Chapter 221: Bluffing
Chapter 216 – Bluff
When the outbreak of war began, Franz’s nerves were taut, and not just his entire Austrian government hierarchy, there was not a single person who dared to relax.
Despite the fact that the front line was advancing very fast and smoother than planned, the Austrian government was still mobilizing the whole country.
Perhaps in the view of many people, this is a little fuss, fight a Bavarian Kingdom to deploy 400,000 troops, the country also mobilized a million reserve forces.
As the person concerned, Franz can say very clearly, this is not a small fuss, but strategic needs.
When a lion and an elephant fight a rabbit, they all use their full strength.
It is the state of Austria now, if just deal with a Bavaria, perhaps out of 30,000 to 50,000 troops can accomplish the task.
Anyway, Munich is close at hand, launching a sneak attack of 30,000 to 50,000 troops is enough. There is no need to make such a big fuss about it.
It was only military, but politics dictated a war that could not be treated with common sense.
For example, many local governments and armies in Bavaria have now declared their neutrality, which is the result of combining the might of 400,000 troops with a political offensive.
If there were only 30,000 or 50,000 troops, would the local powerhouses in Bavaria have compromised so easily? Without the cooperation of these men, and the absolute superiority in strength, Austria would be able to neutralize the Bavarian garrisons?
The real situation was not that Franz was destined to be the king, or that the Habsburgs were so popular, but that strength brought about popularity.
The Bavarian people saw the strength of Austria, the local ruling class was intimidated, this time the lobbyist on the battlefield, they naturally made the choice that best meets their interests.
Whether it is the capitalists, or the nobles, they will not do the mantis thing, clinging to the strong is their way of survival.
These people also want to face, “neutrality” is a piece of cloth, and the public opinion is the best tool to cover up their nature of jumping back.
The Austrian government also needs their help to create an atmosphere of popular support, in order to collect the hearts and minds of the Bavarian people and endorse the war.
Now the result was very good, and there was a tacit agreement to guide public opinion to position this war initiated by Austria under the pretext of German unification.
They also put on a patriot’s hat on the ground that “they could not betray the monarch to whom they owed allegiance and could not undermine the unity of the country”, and then declared their neutrality with honor.
The lies were so numerous that they had to be believed, for Austria was now the true center of attention.
The underclass couldn’t think of that much, and after bragging about it a few times, they assumed that the war of unification initiated by Austria was just. Anyone who considered himself patriotic certainly could not hinder the unification of the country at this time.
It could be said that Franz had concocted the biggest set-up in history, and all the parties involved were set up in it and couldn’t get out of it.
People around you are talking about “German unity”, and in order to fit in you can’t help but follow suit, not realizing that people around you, like you, don’t agree with this idea as much as they talk about it.
It’s the nationalists who are the real supporters of German unification, those are the real supporters. Ordinary people are just influenced by the general environment and are led to preconceive and subconsciously believe that they are also supporters of German unity.
The brainwashing was now going very well, at least millions of Bavarian people had been ensnared, and it was precisely the local Bavarian notables who accomplished this program.
They themselves were in the trap, and once they got in, they couldn’t get out. It can be said that this war made the idea of German unity deeply rooted in the Bavarian kingdom.
This kind of thing, Franz himself know just, he will not say out. Everyone in the outside world only saw the Bavarian people supporting Austria to overthrow the Bavarian government in order to embrace German unity.
Including Maximilian II, who was in Munich, believed that he had been abandoned by the people, otherwise it could not be explained that the Austrian army had appeared outside the city without encountering any obstruction.
Vienna.
Prime Minister Felix said optimistically, “Your Majesty, the first step of the strategy is solid, under the banner of German unity, the Bavarian population has no intention of resisting at all, it seems that our plan is still too conservative.
The popular base of the German region is much better than we expected, perhaps our steps can be enlarged a little more, simply ……”
Franz shook his head, the hearts and minds of the Bavarian region is Austria’s many years of operation, coupled with the timing of the people and the people and the joint role out, the other regions of Germany simply have no way to compare.
If you continue to play the game, it is going to wear out. Now it is better to take the good with the bad, let everyone think that the German region of the people are in favor of unification, to induce them to make a wrong judgment.
“Prime Minister, greed is the original sin of this world, and the tighter the crunch, the more we must keep our desires in check. Austria needs to be steady, not get risky!”
Being awakened, Prime Minister Felix broke out in a cold sweat, it was true that success could easily make people lose their way and become arrogant.
Foreign Minister Metternich spoke up, “That’s right, even if the popular base of the German region is good, we don’t have the ability to unify Germany right now.
Austria cannot stand against all the powers, what needs to be done now is to fall into our pockets and digest the spoils of war and transform them into national strength.”
Franz nodded, and then instructed, “Mr. Metternich, you’ll be the one to make the trip to Berlin yourself, the Prussian government should be intimidated, and they need to be stabilized now.
Prime Minister, you also make a hard trip and visit the German states again, this time starting with Saxony, try to convince them with political means.”
Does a war of unification have to be fought? Franz said that history could be learned from, the Prussians were able to use political means to recover these states, Austria could do the same.
When it comes to internal affairs, it’s better to not use military means when you can. If you kill a bloodbath, at the time is cool, the future governance of the place when you are ready to cry!
These small state governments were able to keep existing, so they naturally had their own way of surviving. Why did the German Second Empire leave these states behind in history? It was not for the sake of stability.
Historically, the German Second Empire’s central government had relied on soft tactics to eat away the power of the various state governments bit by bit.
Now Austria wants to do this even easier, after all, the largest state in South Germany, the Kingdom of Bavaria, has already been knocked out, the remaining several small state power is not worth mentioning.
As soon as the names of the kings and ministers were settled, the rest was easy. The central government was both powerful and righteous, and it was too easy to suppress the local governments.
If it was really not possible, wasn’t there another kind of transfer of feudalization in history?
When push comes to shove, Franz can still be shameless, and as long as he catches the handle, he will change the territory of these so-called kings and grand dukes.
In their operation on decades, or even hundreds of years of nest, there is no way to deal with, change a place that is unfamiliar, still afraid that they will not be honest?
Even Franz can be more shameless to give a false title, for example, take the title of the king of Jerusalem, and some unlucky person for the throne.
This sacred throne status is extraordinary, but unfortunately the land in the Ottoman sphere of influence, when the restoration of the country will not know.
……
In the Munich palace, Maximilian II had to accept the harshest of realities, perhaps he couldn’t even run away anymore.
The Munich city guard had actually declared neutrality, and now the only thing loyal to the king, besides the palace guard, was a newly formed infantry division that had just been mobilized for the defense of Munich.
But was this unit reliable? The answer was no. Public opinion was not to be disobeyed, and since the Bavarian people had already made their choice, they were naturally and inevitably affected by it.
The only reason why neutrality was not declared now was that the upper officers were still loyal to the king, unlike the city defense, which had been infiltrated by the nobility and capitalists.
On June 10, which was the second day of the Austrian siege, representatives of the Austrian persuasion had entered the Munich palace.
Negotiating terms after a defeat was a common occurrence on the European continent. In the history of the Bavarian Kingdom, this was not the first time it happened.
Only unlike in the past, this time the position of the Bavarian royal family was so precarious that Maximilian II himself did not have much confidence that he would be able to keep the throne.
But Prime Minister Auguste assured him that the Austrians would not dethrone him for one reason and one reason only – to eat his face.
With so many states in the German region, and with everyone still watching, the Vienna government could not afford to go too far.
……
Foreign Minister Barkhaus said angrily, “Mr. Jonas, your country’s conditions are really too much, we have agreed to join the Holy Roman Empire, you have made so many excessive demands, this is clearly to annex Bavaria!”
Jonas, the Austrian Minister in Bavaria, shook his head and said, “There is always a price to pay for doing something wrong, the current Bavarian government doesn’t have the capital to negotiate conditions.
Mr. Barkhaus, do you believe that even if Austria withdraws its troops immediately, the Bavarian government will be finished, the people outside are dying to send you to the gallows.
The situation in Bavaria is no longer suitable for the royal family to continue to rule, and the best choice is to exchange the country with Austria.
The Honorable King Maximilian II can then become the King of Serbia, and you can all serve as ministers of the Kingdom of Serbia.
This is the limit of what Austria can do. You have already lost the basis of your rule, and if you continue to rule the Kingdom of Bavaria, you will be doomed to revolution in the future.
The central government of a united Germany is not an instrument to help you to a real revolution, and Mr. Barkhaus hopes that you will understand this.”
Flim-flam and flim-flam again, had the Bavarian government really lost the hearts and minds of the people? Franz knew it hadn’t yet, he could tell just by the fact that the local government had chosen to be neutral, rather than choosing to fall in line.
But they didn’t know it themselves, a thick stack of declarations of neutrality, making it seem as if the Bavarian population were all supporters of Austria.
In their view, this kind of neutrality is betrayal, did not directly turn that is not necessary, Austria does not need them to fight, can save their own face, who will not cheapen themselves is not it?
Foreign Minister Barkhaus continued to fight to: “No, the Balkans is too remote, Serbia is a piece of barbaric land, this is clearly in exile!
If the throne is to be exchanged, it must be exchanged for the same price. Austria must take out a wealthy region to be fair.”
It was not that his bottom line was low, but the wrong perception made Maximilian II lower his heart expectations, and Barkhaus, who was in charge of the negotiations, naturally had no bottom line.
In their view the Bavarian royal family has lost the hearts and minds of the people, no matter who supports him will not be able to continue to sit on the throne of Bavaria, originally he was prepared to abdicate to take responsibility.
Unfortunately, Austria refused to agree and threatened them that once the royal family did not cooperate, they would encourage the Bavarian people to start a revolution and send them to the guillotine.
This threat didn’t scare Maximilian II, as long as Austria was still an imperial state, there was no way he, the king, would be guillotined, not so for the others.
The Austrians would have no qualms about killing their ministers. Isn’t the execution of a traitor the best excuse? For the sake of their own lives, the top of the Bavarian government had to do Maximilian II’s ideological work.
Even now the negotiations, are done to Maximilian II see. It is afraid that he suddenly can not think, if all of a sudden hanged himself, Franz will have to cry.
That means Austria this time in vain, dead a king, but also dare to annex the Kingdom of Bavaria, I guess the future will be forever.
To gather the hearts of the people, it was necessary for Maximilian II to cooperate, and only if he agreed to give up the throne, Franz would be able to legally obtain the right to rule the Kingdom of Bavaria.
Maximilian II would then have to survive, at least until Austria annexed Bavaria.
He also had to live so well that the Bavarian populace could not see him fall on hard times and feel sympathy. That’s what led to the land swap, where the Austrian representative offered to trade Serbia for Bavaria.
When this offer appeared, the negotiations came to a deadlock. Barkhaus wanted to fight for the king he served, and Jonas was unwilling to make concessions.
……
(End of chapter)