Chapter 324: The New Tripod Strategy

  Chapter 314 The New Tripod Strategy

Time rushed by, and in a flash, we entered the year 1860. The first major event in the beginning of the year was that Nicholas I went to meet God.

If it happens in other European countries, this is also a small problem, not just a new emperor, the day as usual.

But in Tsarist Russia, it was a different story. The change of the Tsar meant that the foreign policy of the Russians was about to change.

As the European hegemony, the tsarist government’s foreign policy changes, will certainly affect the international situation, the government of Vienna must do a good job of countermeasures.

Foreign Minister Weissenberg analyzed, “According to the intelligence we have gathered, Alexander II’s character is not as strong as Nicholas the Great’s, and he is more adept at the art of compromise.

Alexander II’s political stance was different from that of Nicholas the Great, as he advocated more thorough social reforms and opposed blind foreign expansion.

The Foreign Office judged that Alexander II might compromise with the British, stop supporting the Indian rebels and ease relations with the British.

Without Russian support, the Indians could not hold off the British, and it would not be long before this rebellion was suppressed.

It would not take long for the rebellion to be suppressed. In two years at the most, the British would be able to withdraw from India. Whether the British would return to the European continent or launch a new round of colonial expansion was uncertain.

Against this background, the French should accelerate their actions in the Kingdom of Sardinia.

The Paris government has already succeeded in persuading Belgium, Holland and Switzerland to withdraw their troops from the Kingdom of Sardinia. As agreed, after the murderer has been apprehended, we should also withdraw from the Sardinian Kingdom.

As long as France and Russia reach an agreement and the Russians withdraw their troops from the Kingdom of Sardinia, the British will be on their own, and none of the remaining European countries will have the strength to be enemies of France.

It was not difficult to convince the Russians. Alexander II wanted to carry out social reforms, the biggest problem was still the lack of funds. All the French had to do was to be willing to provide a loan, and the Tsarist government would sell the Kingdom of Sardinia.”

Minister of Finance Karl shook his head and said, “The London government will not stop, providing a loan to the Kingdom of Sardinia, although it was done by the previous governments, but the British government after all provided a guarantee for the loan.

It is impossible for the British Parliament to take on this debt, and it is even more impossible for the capitalists to give up this loan, not to mention the huge interests behind the loan.

Now the Kingdom of Sardinia is their industrial and commercial products dumping ground, every year there are millions of pounds of export trade, they can not let go.

Once the French occupied the Kingdom of Sardinia, all their privileges were gone, and the loan also became a bad debt.

Now that the British had lost half of the Sardinian market, it was almost at the limit of their endurance.

Unless the French took advantage of the fact that the British had no time to care about the Kingdom of Sardinia, they made a quick cut and caused the established fact of occupying the Kingdom of Sardinia.

Unfortunately, the Paris government can’t make up its mind about this, they are worried that a direct occupation of the Kingdom of Sardinia will cause everyone to be jealous, or even start a war against France.”

This is the aftermath, Napoleon left the French with a glorious era, and likewise made the French stand under the spotlight, and any action they took on the European continent was looked at by everyone with a magnifying glass.

Napoleon III was unable to accurately judge the true position of the countries and chose to seek stability. The encroachment on the Kingdom of Sardinia was ostensibly to alleviate the scruples of the countries, but in reality it was of little use.

Regardless of whether or not the Sardinian Kingdom was annexed, the countries’ scorn for them did not diminish in the slightest. The lack of action was mainly due to interest.

The interests were not enough, and without a big country to take the lead, how could a small country be the one to take the lead?

Of course, this is just a bystander. If Franz stood in the position of Napoleon III, he would also choose to seek stability, even more stable than he would.

The Italian region has never been a good place to enter, even if you want to expand on the European continent, pushing the border line to the Rhine is still a better development potential than moving towards Italy.

Stabilize the basic plate on the death of North Africa, with the power of France, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco into the mainland, is not a problem at all.

The importance of the African continent, Napoleon III has seen. After succeeding to the throne, it stepped up the pace of expansion. If not the Kingdom of Sardinia scattered their energy, it is estimated that the largest area of African colonization is not Austria.

Prime Minister Felix put forward a different opinion: “There is nothing wrong with the French choice, according to the current rate of encroachment, even if the British draw back to Europe, the French can still eat half of the Sardinian Kingdom.

The rest of the territory, even if it is preserved, will be on their plate sooner or later. Slowly the British will realize that it is actually more to gain than to lose to defend the Sardinian Kingdom.

As for the losses they suffered, they could make up for them elsewhere. As long as the balance between Russia, Austria and France was not broken, the British continental policy was realized, and there was no need to care about the small Sardinian Kingdom.

It’s just that the French are ambitious, and once they occupy the Kingdom of Sardinia, I’m afraid they’ll still be scheming for the rest of Italy, and we’ll be in no small amount of trouble then.”

Foreign Minister Weissenberg uttered a piece of news that caught him off guard, “Perhaps we can make a big deal with the French and cede the Italian regions to them!”

The crowd’s faces changed drastically, France + Italy this was a complete giant.

Finance Minister Karl objected, “No, paying the entire Italian region can indeed be exchanged for the French acquiescing to our unification of the German region, but there are still the British and the Russians.

The Kingdom of Prussia is not weak, and the barely united German Federal Empire also has a significant amount of strength, making it difficult for us to achieve a quick victory.

Unless another family between Britain and Russia is brought together, a bad operation would be France and Austria joining forces to challenge the entire European continent, and we don’t have much of a chance of winning.”

This proposal was indeed very tempting, but unfortunately the risk was just too great.

Franz is not worried about France and Austria to join forces to challenge the continent of Europe will fail, now the Russians outside strong not in the state, without the hairy bear as the main force, this is not a low chance of winning.

The problem was that it was just wishful thinking on their part. The French public might be willing to make this deal, but the jerky Napoleon III might not be.

In case of being pitched, then it is less likely to be gray, and perhaps spit out a lot of benefits, unless ……

He couldn’t think any further, Franz immediately stopped fantasizing. The international situation and not at his command, Napoleon III’s ambitions have just been ignited, not yet to that point.

“Today’s content is filed under top secret, so just bury it in your hearts.

The international situation is ever-changing and beyond our control.

The unification of the German region remains our most central strategy, but we must be careful how and when we unify the German region.

Any ideas can be put forward for discussion. What cannot be done today, perhaps the opportunity will come tomorrow.

The most important thing now is development. It is not in our interest to break the international situation blindly. We have a great advantage over the European countries.

Population, territory and resources, these three core elements, except for the Russians, there is no country on the European continent that can compare with us.

The longer we delay, the stronger these advantages translate into comprehensive national power. Now the French are not far from us, after ten years the gap between the two sides will be completely widened.

It will be easier to talk about it then, I’m sure. Napoleon III won’t be able to watch being left behind by us, they will have to expand abroad if they want to catch up.”

In this era of inconvenient news transmission, Austria’s economic development data, and not open to the public, the countries have not yet noticed the development advantages brought by the population and territory.

However, this could not be kept secret for a long time. As everyone communicated more and more frequently, they would surely notice the changes in Austria.

When the time comes, Napoleon III will certainly not be able to do it. The French, who hadn’t had their spine broken in this era, wouldn’t tolerate being overtaken and gradually declining.

Either fight a war to curb Austria’s development; or expand externally to increase their strength.

This choice question is very good, there is a population, territory, resources more hairy bears in, which are the French European hegemony on the enemy.

Fighting through it by force was obviously not going to do the trick. The Russo-Austrian alliance had not yet broken up, and military action saw no chance of victory.

Even if Napoleon III didn’t want to expand externally, fanatical nationalism would drive them into battle. Either externally or internally.

When that happens, the French government won’t have much of a choice. A bit of seduction and a deal between the two sides is very likely.

Minister of Finance Karl reminded, “Your Majesty, the threat to us from the French getting bigger is very great. At that time, even if we unify the German region, we will still be sandwiched in the center of France and Russia, and will be very passive strategically.”

Foreign Minister Weissenberg explained, “On the contrary, when the Russian-French-Austrian tripartite division of the European continent takes shape, we are instead very safe.

As long as the British did not abandon the policy of continental balance, we did not have to worry about being isolated. The France that annexed the Italian regions was not the present France.

Similarly, the Russian Empire that annexed Northern Europe is not the present Russian Empire.

Three huge empires standing side by side is actually the most stable instead, unless something goes wrong in one house and upsets that balance, then war will break out.

As long as we make sure that it’s not us that goes wrong first, then the danger remains manageable. From the current situation, we are stable among the three kingdoms.

The Russians are still in the midst of reform, and success or failure is hard to predict. If the reforms fail, there is no chance that the Russian Empire will collapse sometime in the future.

Napoleon III is not in the right place, and many people in the country are not convinced of his rule. This crisis would be exacerbated if the Italian regions were annexed.”

It had to be admitted that Weissenberg’s strategic vision was still very good, just a little too radical.

This is not a big problem, the cabinet can’t all be solid, Franz is also ambitious.

Weissenberg is only 35 years old, and was able to stand out from the many competitors. In addition to Metternich’s strong recommendation, is a superb strategic vision. This is the most important prerequisite for the position of Foreign Minister.

Prime Minister Felix asked, “Since the hidden danger of annexing the Italian region is so great, how can we be sure that Napoleon III will fall for it?”

Foreign Minister Weissenberg explained, “Your Excellency the Prime Minister, Napoleon III has already fallen for it from the time he annexed the Kingdom of Sardinia.

The capitalists and nobles who supported the Sardinian government during the Austro-Sardinian War all suffered heavy losses, and the foundation of the Sardinian government’s rule has long been shaken.

Backed up with a huge debt, the French now resorted to political cooptation as the mainstay and military threats as a supplement.

The Napoleon family’s influence in the Italian region is not weak, and many Italians are still proud of Napoleon, so I have reason to believe that the local powerhouses in the Kingdom of Sardinia will defect to the French.

With the cooperation of these people, French rule in the region can be established soon.

However, the calm is only temporary. The French can’t pull everyone in, and will certainly have to suppress some of those in power and cultivate their cronies to take power.

These people would not be willing to fail, and due to the threat of force from the French, they would not dare to do anything in the short term.

All we need is a short-term calm in Sardinia, a calm that will give Napoleon III the illusion of destiny.

We can also control some of the media and sing his praises to deepen this realization.

Once Napoleon III believes that the Italians will embrace his rule, the ambition to annex the Italian regions can’t be suppressed.

But Italian nationalism has awakened, and once the French army is reduced or withdrawn, these guys who don’t want to lose the political battle will surely jump out.

For example: encouraging patriotic youth to rise up against French rule, financing revolutionaries, etc.

Rebellion is also contagious, and when the Italian regions are in chaos, France will not be stable internally. Without decades to recuperate, the French can’t digest the Italian regions.

If manipulated properly, the French Empire itself would collapse.

Of course if we want to do that, we have to further stimulate the French’s ambitions, and the only way to hold them up is to let them annex more land.”

Franz’s heart rejoiced, the Vienna government finally had strategically ambitious people! Although these operations, still a little idealized.

But life is supposed to be bullshit, if you don’t even dare to think about it, how can you succeed?

(End of chapter)