Chapter 426: The Second Industrial Revolution Begins

  Chapter 416: The Second Industrial Revolution Opens

Franz was busy, after the African colony indigenization was passed, more than a dozen colonial cities had already applied so far.

There was no doubt that this was the circuitous route. Let the eligible areas be indigenized first, and wait for the rest to meet the conditions.

Anyway, these cities were the core of the colony, and the surrounding areas would still be given to them to administer, and then split up when they developed in the future.

This was the consensus reached between the Vienna government and the colonial powerhouses, and now no one wanted to make a fuss about independence, so naturally they wouldn’t care about the division of administrative districts.

To show his attention, Franz personally received the representatives of the colonies. These aristocrats were his support and the cornerstone of future domination of the continent.

In terms of interest, everyone belonged to a large interest group. Franz was the major shareholder of this group, and they were the minor shareholders within. One loss, one gain.

Internationally, there is restlessness on the UK again, and it seems to have been stimulated by France and Austria leaning in.

On September 2, 1866, the British Foreign Secretary visited St. Petersburg to improve relations between Britain and Russia, and on September 28, the government in London sent a note to mediate in the Russo-Prussian War.

Franz would have almost believed it if he had not received intelligence that the Russian revolutionaries had been secretly sent home by the Prussians.

The Franco-Austrian alliance vs. the Anglo-Russian alliance was exciting to think about.

However, this can only be thought of. In addition to the fact that the Anglo-Russian conflict was too deep to allow for a real alliance.

More still, the Russian Empire is too powerful, they just need to complete the internal reform is the European hegemony. The London government, as long as it is not crazy, will not go to support such a giant.

So this is coming at the Russian-Austrian alliance, which the British have gone to great lengths to break up.

It was a phallic plot. St. Petersburg’s acceptance of the British goodwill was bound to arouse suspicion in Vienna.

In normal times this suspicion does not matter, in the Russo-Prussian War this suspicion, it is very pitiful, the Vienna government a little hesitation, the Russians will have to suffer a big loss.

Once this kind of thing happens, it will not be long before the Russian-Austrian alliance will exist in name only.

Knowing that, Franz will prevent this thing from happening?

The answer is: no!

The strategic value of the Russo-Austrian alliance had been completed. For the next ten or twenty years, the Russians would have to deal with internal conflicts, and the Eastern Front was secure.

This security was more reliable than even the security that had been brought about by the alliance. Regardless of what the Tsarist government thought, they had no power to threaten Austria anytime soon.

In that case, was there any need to stay tied to the Russians?

The world was so realistic that all Franz could do was not to tear up the pact and continue to keep the two countries on a better footing.

I believe that Alexander II would have made the same choice, the Russian-Austrian alliance is still valuable to them, can be stable through the period of weakness.

For the sake of strategic security, the Tsarist government would not have torn up the pact either. This time limit was only established when the Russian Empire was weak.

The Russian-Austrian alliance would come to an end as soon as the Tsarist government wanted to expand on the European continent in the future; similarly the Austrian unification of the German region would be the end of the pact between the two countries.

Is there a solution? Of course there is, for example: encourage the Tsarist government to go to the death of India, then the alliance can continue for many more years.

It is difficult to say that it is difficult to do this, but it is easy to say that it is easy to do this, as long as you are willing to spend money on it.

The Russians are going to invade British India, which is a bad road to go down, and the cost of war is absolutely very high. As long as there is a gold master who is willing to pay for it, the Czarist government will absolutely have no half-hearted opinion.

I don’t know about the future, but Franz couldn’t afford the money now. If he had that kind of money, he would have preferred to spend it on the Industrial Revolution.

The second industrial revolution had already begun to break out, and Austria was one of the birthplaces, with 1866 as a sign.

In May, Siemens, an engineer from the New Holy Roman Empire, invented the world’s first high-power generator.

Marking the arrival of the age of electricity, before that, because the generator power is too small to be put into industrial production.

Since the age of electricity, as the center of the empire naturally want to enjoy the results of priority, Franz first decided to put street lights in Vienna.

Electricity appeared in the last century, and in 1854 the German watchmaker Henri Goebel invented the carbonized bamboo filament light bulb, which stayed on for 400 hours.

Just after it was reported in the newspapers, it caught Franz’s attention and he bought the patent straight away, even though he had not yet registered it.

Franz still had the decency to do something like robbing someone’s patent. Then, naturally, the carbon filament was replaced by a tungsten filament, and a vacuum was added.

Improvement can be much faster than R & D, before and after a year or so. Then Franz was the first to enter the age of electricity, the royal palace first set off a lighting revolution.

Because the generator power is too low, directly leading to the high cost of power generation, electricity in this era has become a luxury, only for the rich.

Now the appearance of high-power generators, not only power generation costs reduced, but also has the possibility of industrialized use, Franz naturally want to promote. What could be a more useful advertisement than the lighting up of Vienna?

Without even having to pay for advertising, the newspapers would spread the news all over the world. Then London and Paris were sure to follow, and presumably, if the Tsarist government had any money left, it would follow suit.

Making money is a small thing, the most important thing is to make a name for yourself. Attract more people into the electric power industry, otherwise just rely on Franz to promote, monkey years and months to be able to popularize electricity into the industry.

In August, the transatlantic telegraph was completed, the first direct electricity connection between Europe and the United States.

This is different from the previous telegraph, before this, the telegraph line between Europe and the United States is not directly through, but passes in the Atlantic Ocean in the islands, halfway need to ship to pass the message.

This was a technical problem, limited by the times, the bottom of the sea was unknown to everyone, and the cable laying needed to depend on luck.

If the luck is not good, directly destroyed by undersea creatures, and again need to be re-laid. When encountering special terrain, it was equally likely that the laying project would be affected.

One section of the undersea cable had always had problems, and it was only now that the problem had been completely solved. Until now, this section of the distance can only rely on ships to relay messages. Not only is the message lagging behind, but the operating costs are too high to make it commercially viable.

Now it’s different, it can directly connect two continents, and the commercial value is greatly increased.

As a result, the British have announced the laying of submarine cables: London-Canada, London-South Africa-India.

The French are also preparing to lay submarine cables from Paris to French America and from Paris to French Asia.

Franz has also ordered the laying of two submarine cables: Africa-Central America and Africa-New Bavaria (New Guinea).

The French-Austrian telegraph to Africa had long been connected, so naturally there was no need to do it again. The problem of duplicated telegraph lines in various countries, that could not be helped, no one wanted to be constrained.

Moreover, this is not a loss-making business, most of the region’s telegraph lines, are able to make money. Loss-making lines, no one to lay at all.

For example: the submarine cable to Alaska, Franz was not prepared to lay.

From the time he got the land from the Russians until now, there has been no development other than the establishment of a fur company.

If it weren’t for the oath of sovereignty, the tax collector, the Viennese government, wouldn’t even bother to send one. It was a land that was not collecting enough to cover its expenses, and was losing tens of thousands of guilders a year in funding.

Establishing telegraph lines was, naturally, unnecessary. Anyway, there is no fear of being robbed, no country would engage in a bloody war with Austria for a piece of ice country.

This was just the beginning, immediately after the major colonial empires were taking action, everyone knew the strategic role of the telegraph. In order to strengthen control over the colonies, it was an essential part.

In September, Alfred Nobel invented the nitroglycerine explosive. Of course this was still under high secrecy and would not be publicized until after the Russo-Prussian War.

After all, this was the weapon that changed the war. If it was announced in advance, and the Russians wanted to buy it, to sell it or not to sell it was also a headache.

Not selling affected the relationship, and selling would likely affect the outcome of the war. Dynamite is a completely sharp weapon for bunkers and fortresses in this era, and many of the original solid defenses will not be enough now.

On the surface Austria did not sell arms to Prussia, this kind of proprietary new invention, destined to be unable to sell goods to two families.

The Russians were winning the war, and it wasn’t like Franz wanted to see that. If the Tsarist government lost the war, they might need to recuperate for twenty years; if they won the war, they might be up to something again in ten or eight years.

There was no need to doubt the resilience of the woolly bears, and even less need to say about their ability to die. In order to avoid such troubles, Franz decisively chose to postpone.

Alfred Nobel is also full of legend, in 1860, began to engage in the research of nitroglycerin explosives.

In 1863, Nobel returned to Sweden, with his father and brother to develop explosives, due to an accidental explosion accident blew up the workshop, blew up his brother, the government banned them from further testing.

Because of the nitroglycerine factory explosion, brother Jämiel died tragically, was forced to close the Swedish factory.

At this time, the Austrian Arsenal threw an olive branch. The two sides hit it off and decided to jointly develop explosives.

In fact, most of the arsenals are governmental cooperation, otherwise produced weapons sold to whom?

The butterfly effect played a role, this time Noble did not break the mold, but chose a more secure cooperation.

This is not surprising, Nobel is a scientist, the same is also a businessman.

Risk aversion is an instinct, the same period of explosives research, and not the only one. Before the results are released, no one knows if there is a market for the product.

……

These are just the more influential technological advances, and there were even more small inventions. The second industrial revolution was already underway, and 1866 just kicked off the new era.

(End of chapter)