Chapter 413: Falsehood, Truth, Falsehood, Truth
Chapter 403: Falsehood and Truth True and False Truth
After careful consideration, the London government still made a resolution to blockade the Baltic Sea. As a matter of fact, from the time the Berlin government agreed to take the orders placed by the Russians in England, the voices against the blockade of the Baltic Sea were gone from the Diet.
Anti-Russianism had always been the national policy of the British, and naturally there would be no objection to striking a blow at the Russians without jeopardizing everyone’s interests.
On January 11, 1866, the Royal Navy blocked the Baltic Sea on the pretext of eliminating pirates.
The blockade of the Baltic Sea did not exist, but only in consideration of the safety of the passing ships, the Royal Navy advised everyone to suspend access to the Baltic Sea.
Opinions are given out, as to listen to whether to listen to the whole voluntary. If you are robbed by pirates, don’t regret it.
The threat of “pirates” is horrible, in the two Russian merchant ships suffered an accident, we are wise to choose to suspend the sea trade routes.
The British Foreign Office was filled with protests. The Foreign Secretary, Lord Rathlin, ordered a cold shoulder, and then nothing more.
It was in the interest of France and Austria that the Russo-Prussian War should continue. Without the big powers stepping in, all the smaller countries could do was protest.
In Franz’s opinion, the tactic of adding fuel to the fire was the most nationally draining way to fight. The Russian Empire had already failed strategically by not being able to utilize its superiority in strength and directly crush Prussia.
Politicians see things differently from ordinary people, winning a war is not necessarily a victory, and losing a war is not necessarily a defeat.
There are too many classic cases in history, ordinary people seem to be the protagonist drifted, horse lost, however, carefully analyze the gains and losses behind, will find that the final victor is actually the front loser.
It is only in recent times, with the awakening of the people and the higher demands on the ruling class, that the cost of this kind of play has gradually risen, and has finally been abandoned.
The most immediate benefit of the British blockade was that Russian-Austrian trade increased again. Now the Tsarist government had no choice but to be such a seller.
How much the price has risen, Franz does not care, anyway, now the tsarist government directly to the capitalists to order, negotiated what price is what price.
Anyway, now that the tsarist government had money, the bureaucrats would find a way to spend it. As the price of goods rose, the capitalists’ profits followed, the bureaucrats’ kickbacks increased, and even the Viennese government’s tax revenues grew.
It’s a win-win-win situation, good for you, good for me, good for everyone.
Intelligence chief Theron handed out a document and said, “Your Majesty, this is the French’s latest European strategy.”
Not having won the Crimean War, Napoleon III was still very enlightened and never brainstormed when it came to strategy.
The advantage of brainstorming is that it reduces the rate of error and likewise increases the chances of exposure. Everything is not a secret once more people know about it.
The French this strategic plan, although not made known to everyone, but also involved in the development of dozens of people, leaking is not surprising.
Of course, it is also possible that the French deliberately put out a smokescreen. True or false strategy, almost every country has a dozen plans.
Until something happens, no one knows which strategy is true, and one can only gather as much information as possible and then make a judgment.
Not even Napoleon III himself could guarantee which plan was their real strategy for the future.
Usually there would be several alternatives, and the strategy that best suited the situation at hand would usually be chosen based on changes in the international situation.
This choice is subject to change at any time, unless it is the kind of long-term state policy that is less likely to change, any other strategy is just one of the alternatives.
Looking it over carefully, Franz had to admit that the French were ambitious enough.
Both trying to use the Russo-Prussian War to bring the Russians down from their position of world supremacy, and plotting against the Prussians in the Rhineland.
This is only the first step in the strategy, behind the annexation of Belgium, the German Confederation west of the Rhine plans, and even ready to annex the Italian region.
In his heart, Franz had already hit a fork for this grand strategic plan. It would be a disaster if such a strategy could be implemented, it would be more or less the same if it was Napoleon’s era.
In addition to the use of the Russo-Prussian War, the Russians from the hegemony of the European continent is more reliable, the rest of the strategy is not a little can be implemented.
The “Russia-France-Austria” partition of Prussia was a fallacy from the very beginning.
The Tsar’s government had invested so much in the war that it would not have been able to recoup the cost of the war from Polish Prussia alone. If the French were to get the biggest share of the cake, would Alexander II be able to balance his heart?
Even if he was open-minded, he could not do anything to finance the enemy! Distributing the spoils is never a simple task, especially when it is done together with the enemy.
The French obtained the Rhineland region, industrial development potential increased by at least double, while the Russian Empire obtained the Prussian Poland, can only be considered better than nothing, can not increase the strength of much.
Not to mention Austria, the benefits from the division of Prussia were directly negative. Let Franz choose, he would rather fight a war with France than accept such a pitiful condition of partition.
In terms of benefits: a mere 100,000 square kilometers of land directly puts Austria in a strategic deadlock. This part of the territory brings no more value than the increased defense expenses.
Politically: once involved in the partition of Prussia, it would mean that Franz gave up his political position as the co-ruler of Germany, and the legitimacy of the throne of the New Holy Roman Empire would be seriously challenged.
This was unlike the German II Empire in the original time period, who never had the title of co-emperor in the first place. Therefore Wilhelm I did not become German Emperor and retreated to become German Emperor.
Legally, the German Empire was a republic, and the Emperor was only a hereditary president. Even when Wilhelm I got the title of Emperor through the Kaiser’s Manifesto, his actual status was still only Federal President.
This was the main reason why William II lost his throne after losing WWI. You know the Habsburgs all struggled a bit, and could have kept a few crowns if the last emperor Karl hadn’t done one stupid thing after another.
Jurisprudence, unlike other things, once lost cannot be regained again. Franz’s status as a co-ruler stemmed from the unification of the German region, and once the German region was divided with other countries, how could the people still accept him as emperor?
Even for his own interests, Franz could not let this happen.
“Forward the intelligence to the cabinet and have them arrange for someone to analyze it against the French’s previous strategy to see what the French are hiding.” Franz commanded
These messy strategies were actually valuable, and no one could guarantee that they wouldn’t turn into reality.
At least compared to Bismarck’s German unification plan in the original time period, this French strategy had a much higher success rate, and Bismarck’s whimsical plan in the original time period succeeded.
There was also the Italian strategy pounded out by Cavour, and the Japanese strategy developed by Ito Hirobumi, all of which had a lower success rate in terms of odds than this French plan.
With so many success stories, Franz naturally did not dare to take it lightly. After all, the French are strong, as long as Napoleon III does not run to the front blindly command, they are one of the most powerful empires in the world.
Theoretically so many plans, in addition to the Rhineland region Austria can not be compromised, other regions are possible to realize the exchange of interests.
The minerals in the Rhineland region were important to the French, and not actually irreplaceable, Belgium being one of the alternatives.
As long as the supply of coal was guaranteed for decades, with the development of maritime transportation, shipping costs continued to decrease, and the cost of extracting mineral resources from overseas colonies and transporting them back to the mainland was within the acceptance of industry.
Even the French simply find an opportunity to strike first, hit Austria by surprise and seize the Rhineland from the battlefield.
Franz never doubted this possibility, the Austrian staff had hundreds of battle plans for attacking France and counting, it was not surprising that the French had the same idea.
(End of chapter)