Chapter 216: Excuses for War
Chapter 212: Excuses for War
With Franz’s order, Bavaria came alive.
Chancellor Felix’s speech in Munich still had an effect, and most of the younger generation in Bavaria was set, and one by one, they were thinking about how the German region should be unified.
This thinking went wrong. With their social experience, they were not able to consider the problem comprehensively, and it was very easy for them to go to extremes.
It would have been fine if there was no one to lead the rhythm, but unfortunately, how could Franz, who had been prepared for this, give up this opportunity?
One after another, experts and scholars have jumped out to express their opinions, attacking the Bavarian government in power for their own interests, is destroying the unity of the German region.
In most people’s opinion, the reconstruction of Shenla is not the best choice, but the most suitable choice, when the road to peaceful unification is blocked, only force unification is left.
There might be people who aspired to build a career in war, but this was definitely not a civil war.
Influenced by Prime Minister Felix’s speech, these self-proclaimed elite class students couldn’t stand it anymore, they thought they should do something for the unification of the country, they couldn’t just watch the government run amok.
Demonstrations, a meaningful activity, were taken as the best way to make their voices heard.
They were all intellectuals, and even if they marched, they could find a legal basis for it. The former King Ludwig’s speech before he abdicated became the banner for them.
(Influenced by the Revolution, Ludwig abdicated, and in order to gather the people’s support, he publicly stated that the royal family would work for the unification of the German region)
Maximilian II had a headache and this political bomb detonated. Even if there was no such thing in Europe as the immutability of ancestral laws, the old king’s words before his abdication had the same political force.
Now everyone wanted the king to come out and give an explanation, and since the royal family was committed to the unification of the German region, what was the explanation for the government’s current backtracking?
The king was not the only one questioned, but also the cabinet ministers. The attitude of the people was clear: it was fine to oppose the establishment of Shinra, but you had to come up with a plan for the unification of Germany, didn’t you?
No matter whether it was feasible or not, at least you should be able to convince everyone theoretically and gain the approval of the majority of the people.
Maximilian II anxiously asked, “What do you all do now, the nationals outside are waiting for our reply?”
It wasn’t that they were unprepared, but the previous contingency plans were used to deal with someone causing trouble. The problem now was that these people weren’t causing trouble, huh?
The quality of the people who participated in the demonstration this time could be much higher than usual, not just workers and students, but also the middle class, capitalists, sociologists, and aristocrats participated.
The coverage was so wide that it involved all groups in the Bavarian Kingdom. Even if the Bavarian government suspected that this was organized, they didn’t dare to act rashly without evidence in their hands.
The Revolution had just recently passed, and everyone was too distraught to do anything rash for fear of causing social unrest.
Prime Minister Auguste replied, “Your Majesty, the best thing to do now is to come up with a German unification program to convince the people as much as possible.”
In fact, right now, throughout the entire German region, each state government was preparing their own unification program, and since they were going to oppose the rebuilding of Shinra, they would inevitably have to have a new replacement.
Otherwise it would be like what Felix had railed against, “All day long you don’t do anything practical, you just know how to oppose for the sake of opposing.”
“Prime Minister, any thoughts?” Maximilian II asked
Auguste replied, “Your Majesty, we can change our previous plan, just rebrand the Triple Cabinet plan.
The reason is still the same: there are too many states in the German region, and if we all get involved in the decision making together, we’ll be left bickering every day.
The best option would be for Bavaria to replace the many small states and form a balance in the central government with Austria and Prussia to jointly dominate the empire.
Of course, it was impossible to gain the support of the other states, but it was feasible to convince the citizens that Bavaria could gain the most benefits.
As long as the Austrians can accept the formation of a triple cabinet, we will support the re-establishment of the Holy Roman Empire.”
After hesitating for a moment, Maximilian II made up his mind and said, “Fine, let’s do it.”
Doing so would offend the small states, but it was the lesser of two evils. If you offend these small states, it will be nothing more than a few protests, and if you don’t give an explanation to the people at home, it is going to affect the foundation of your rule.
Since gaining the support of the Great Powers, the Bavarian government has become much bolder. If not for the fact that Prussia and Austria were a little too strong, they would have wanted to unite the many small states of Germany by force.
Moreover, this time, the Bavarian government also came out for everyone and crushed Austria’s Shinra plan, so even if the slogans are shouted a little too much now, I think everyone can understand.
……
On March 4, 1853, Britain and France then ignited the Crimean War, disrupting Russian deployments right out of the gate.
The British were not wrong in their strategy, the Tsarist government was really running out of steam. After the addition of a new front, the logistical supply of the Russian army in the Balkans fell to Austria.
To the surprise of the Allied Forces, the Russian army put into the Crimean War was not only low in combat power, but even the weaponry and equipment were surprisingly bad, and could be completely considered a callow army.
There was no way around it, and the Tsarist government was helpless. The elite troops of the Russian army, most of them filled the Balkan battlefield, or else went to the Caucasus battlefield, the rest are second-line troops, or reserve troops.
Not enough training, weapons and equipment can not, when the battle broke out, the Russians naturally suffered a big loss. If it were not for the terrain and climate of the Crimean War, which victimized the unadapted allied forces, the two sides would have been divided by now.
Vienna.
Finance Minister Karl said in a hushed voice, “Your Majesty, the Russians have once again asked us for a loan, and the Tsarist government’s bond sales have hit a cold streak in the market, with the vast majority of investors fearing that they will default on their loans.”
Franz didn’t even bother to spit on the Russians, there was no one else with poor credibility to this extent. Even when they put up collateral, investors were worried they’d default.
It wasn’t an unfounded worry, the furry bears had a precedent. Ordinary debt renegade even if, even with collateral debt, they can also create excuses to renege.
For example, if the mine is mortgaged, they can levy a messy tax specifically for the mine, forcing investors to quit.
Another example is mortgaged taxes, the result is to let the debtor to collect their own, the prerequisite is that you can collect up.
……
It’s Nicholas I’s turn to pay for the sins of his ancestors. So many bloody lessons have been learned that the capital markets still have a soft spot for them.
Even if Nicholas I is trying to restore credibility, it still won’t help. Without the efforts of several generations, it is difficult for their credit to be accepted by the market.
Look at the European countries are issuing paper money, only they are still directly using gold and silver as currency know, not only the international market lack of credibility, even the domestic capital market as skeptical of the credibility of the tsarist government.
Franz did not hesitate to say, “Tell the Russians that our finances are also very difficult and we cannot afford to give them huge loans, and suggest that they try the capital markets of neutral countries.”
He was afraid; the Russians had already lent 202 million guilders from Austria before and after, including 130 million guilders in government loans, 72 million guilders in private borrowing, and Franz’s Royal Bank had issued a huge loan of 5 million guilders.
Government loans, of course, are all super low interest. Civilian loans naturally follow the laws of the market, encountered the tsarist government such as bad credit business partners, monthly interest rates below 0.7% is not considered.
After deducting the messy handling fees, the Russians have to pay interest, in fact, has exceeded the monthly interest rate of 1%.
Don’t think this is usury, even at this interest rate, there are very few consortia willing to lend money to the Russians.
High risk corresponded to high return, and if it weren’t for the stipulation that the money could only be used in Austria, these loans would never have been approved.
Some of the private loans had other strings attached, such as specifying that the money be used to buy a certain company’s products, or ……
Naturally, the Tsarist government was keen to approach the Austrian government for loans. The high interest rate of private loans, not to mention, there are a whole lot of restrictions, the tsarist government naturally can not stand.
Even with the Russians backing him up, Franz didn’t dare to print tickets recklessly, who knows when the Near East War will end? What if it is ahead of schedule?
At that time, Austria did not accumulate enough capital, the economic crisis broke out again, the Russians who got the loan, there is a possibility that it will become a bottom-feeder.
In the face of profit, it is important to be on the defensive. Basically, the Russians to Austria imported a certain amount of gold and silver, can ensure that there is no devaluation of the currency, Franz dared to release the loan.
Franz admitted that he was a conservative and knew nothing about economic issues. But a country is different from a business, and a country needs steady growth, not quick bursts.
Metternich spoke, “Your Majesty, we need to stabilize the Russians at this time, we can first help them peddle a batch of bonds for emergencies, the summer tax is coming soon, by then the Russians should be able to return a mouthful of blood.
The Bavarian government has taken the desperate path on its own, now it just needs time to fester, all our people need to do is give them a push and they’re done for.”
It wasn’t easy to screw the Bavarian government, Austria had made a lot of giant pits for them to jump into, and they had mostly avoided them.
For example: when the Bavarian government suppressed crowds of demonstrators, Austria could intervene with the charge that the Bavarian government was persecuting nationalists and trying to split the German region.
Without even declaring war, Austrian troops could have appeared on the streets of Munich and even still been welcomed in.
Obviously, the Bavarian government was not stupid, and even if they didn’t know that Austria wanted to make a move against them, they knew that forceful suppression would shake the foundations of their rule.
As a result, this pit was not jumped, and they dug themselves another hole and buried themselves. On the surface it seems that offending these small states is not a big deal, anyway, they are just shouting slogans at home.
However, the Austrian push is different, the government of these states can be calm, but the people can not be calm.
According to the Austrian plan, they are at least one of the shareholders of the god Luo, are the master of the country; according to the Bavarian plan they become shareholders, nominally also shareholders, but not participate in the decision-making qualifications, and even the right to dividends are deprived of.
It would be strange if they did not get angry at this situation. As long as they gamble, when Austria moves against Bavaria, they will oppose the government to send troops, and the opposition of the general public will undoubtedly make these small state governments hesitate.
As long as they didn’t send troops to help in the first place, the Kingdom of Bavaria wouldn’t be able to carry the first wave, and when the established fact of Austria’s annexation of Bavaria was created later on, it would be too late for everyone to want to get involved.
Without the Kingdom of Bavaria, these small states will have to face Austria directly, their strength is limited, they do not have the strength to resist Austria, the people’s morale is scattered, the later problems will be easier to deal with.
These small German states looked insignificant, but if they were united, their strength was not weak.
Thirty or forty million troops can still be taken out, plus a Prussian kingdom, if not quickly broken, once in a stalemate, then this plan will fail.
Therefore political camouflage is very important, not to say that the governments are fooled over, as long as they hesitate a little, so that Austria knocked out Bavaria, the big picture has been settled.
On the surface, the Austrian government was now dominated by the peaceful unification faction, followed by the anti-German unification faction. As for the voice advocating the unification of the German region by force, it could not be heard until it went below.
From a political analysis, no matter how you look at it, the Austrian government has no motive to take military action, nor does it have the conditions to make such a decision.
In a way, the political stance of the politicians would influence the decision-making of the country, just as the election of Abraham Lincoln, who favored abolition, set off the American Civil War.
If the Austrian government had been the main war party in power, all the states in the German region would have been wary, just as everyone is now wary of the Kingdom of Prussia.
Even though they are not yet as strong as Austria, their prime ministers are military, a standard hardliner, giving everyone the feeling of a threat.
Franz readily accepted good advice and said, “Well then, let’s help the Russians withstand this wave first, they should be collecting war taxes again later on, I don’t think the Tsar’s government will be short of money again this year.”
War tax is a unique tax in Europe, before modern times, monarchs started wars with money that usually came from war tax.
War taxes also existed in Austria now, except that Franz would not collect them until he had to. If you collect it, you can’t defeat the war, or the consequences will be very serious.
Marshal Radetzky reminded, “Your Majesty, it’s time to create a pretext for war, the division of the German states will be done at this point, any more will be too much.”
Franz thought for a moment and said, “Stick to the plan!”
(End of chapter)