Chapter 433: A Planned Destiny

  Chapter 423 A Planned Destiny

Now that Prussia had the upper hand on the battlefield, the negotiations were placed in London at the strong request of the Berlin government.

Initially they would have liked to put it in Berlin, but the Russians wouldn’t agree, and the Tsarist government wanted to keep a few points of face.

The Russians were still unconvinced and insisted that the negotiations be held in a neutral country to prove that they had not lost the war.

This was self-deception, but it also involved political gamesmanship. The alternative places of negotiation were Vienna and London, and the fact that the place of negotiation was now in London meant that the Tsarist government was at a disadvantage in this round of political gamesmanship.

“With a bang, Clarence Ivanov, the Russian Foreign Minister, threw out a cup of coffee, which splashed all over the floor.

Since the defeat at the front, he had traveled to Europe to seek diplomatic support, but the results were very disappointing. The Russian Empire’s good reputation had directly made most European countries stand against them.

Originally, they were prepared to negotiate separately with each belligerent and use diplomacy to break them down one by one, but now with the British intervening and gathering everyone in London, an anti-Russian coalition emerged.

The Prussians acted as the allies of the coalition, and the British harmonized the interests of all parties to form a joint delegation to negotiate with the Russians.

“Telegraph the situation at home, and let the government make a decision as soon as possible.”

Clarence Ivanov, still politically astute, did not say to consult Alexander II, but let the government make a decision.

This meant that the top echelons of the Tsarist government would have to resist the blame and take responsibility for the failure of the war, and Alexander II was taken off the hook.

There is no such thing as a scapegoat, the failure of this war would have been the pot of the bureaucratic group, especially the logistical one, which was bound to be liquidated after the war.

The top echelons of the government were also to blame, and many were to be implicated and removed from office. Including Clarence Ivanov himself, who had to go home to retire after the war.

If you want to go home in peace, you have to keep the Tsar’s government in power. The slogan of the rebels was “Clean up the side of the king, kill the tainted ministers”, and they were all so-called tainted ministers, and they would be dead if the rebels came to power.

They were all from the great nobility, so it didn’t matter if they lost politically for a while, they could still recover in a few years. There is still the next generation, and to keep the tsar is to safeguard one’s own interests.

……

In the Vienna Palace, Franz asked with concern: “Have the British clarified their purpose?”

The major belligerents gathered in London, the diplomatic discourse is gradually tilted toward the British, the position of the London government is crucial to this negotiation.

In a way, the British were also robbing Austria. If negotiated separately, the negotiations for the Russo-Prussian War and the Russo-Turkish War would have had to gain Vienna’s approval first.

Now that the negotiations were bundled, Austria’s influence in the Central Asian Far East was limited and its diplomatic voice was pulled down.

Missed this opportunity to expand diplomatic influence, Franz is not worried, it is not yet time to venture, early increase in international influence may not be a good thing.

But figuring out the British plan is still important, being led by the nose is not something Franz would like to see.

Russians, Prussians, Ottomans, their path Franz has long been arranged, and now suddenly interrupted by the British intervention, the future direction once again became blurred.

The advantage of political foresight has now been used up, Franz can only rely on their own strength for political games.

Foreign Minister Weissenberg replied, “The London government wants to completely interrupt the Russian threat to them, and tentatively they should do four things:

First, make Central Asia independent and remove the threat from the Indian region;

Second, support the Kingdom of Prussia to annex the Baltic region to strengthen this pawn and give them the ability to defend themselves;

Third, let Poland become an independent state and cause us trouble;

Fourth, interrupting the Russians’ path of expansion in the Far East and ensuring their position as a dominant power in the East.”

Of these four points only Polish independence was difficult for Austria; the others were within Franz’s acceptance. Austria’s assimilation had been going on for many years, and Polish independence would have some impact, and it would be manageable.

Even if someone messed up, the big deal would be collective exile. It’s not like Franz hasn’t done this kind of thing before, and if the people are gone, so are the problems.

The trouble is that with the death-defying attributes of the Big Bopper, it probably won’t be long before he makes a territorial claim to Austria.

During the Provisional Government, there were such calls, but busy with the war with the Russians, they temporarily suppressed this idea.

After a few moments’ work of contemplation, Franz made his decision. Polish independence could not be prevented, and there was no need to interfere.

It didn’t matter if they shouted slogans, Franz wouldn’t care about them anyway. If he got impatient, he would just use force to resolve the conflict.

It was unlikely that a forceful conflict would occur in a short period of time; there was a serious power gap between the two sides, and the Polish Provisional Government received a mess and did not have the guts to challenge Austria.

In the future, it’s not so sure, when they solve their internal problems, and then someone behind them agitates, it’s not likely that they will do something stupid.

“If that’s all, we can acquiesce. Prussia and Poland could have larger territories, the more they take now, the stronger the desire for retaliation from the Czarist government will be in the future.

With the end of the war, it’s time for the Prussian-Polish conflict to happen, to add to their fire. The Lithuanian region was once part of Greater Poland as well, let the Polish nationalists fight Prussia for it.”

That’s how international conflicts come about, you bury a nail in the conflict, I bury a nail in the conflict, and at the end of the day there are nails all over the place and international disputes arise.

Now leave Russia, Prussia, and Poland with the hidden danger of conflict, and in the future provoke the three countries to become mortal enemies.

With the three countries fighting each other, Austria’s northern frontier was stabilized, and Franz could find at least one ally no matter how the international situation changed.

The only regret is that the Ottoman Empire did not perform well this time and did not fulfill the script designed for them, otherwise Franz could have gone to the Holy Land to be crowned.

A crown Franz does not lack, but the religious significance of Jerusalem is different! Recovering it would make Franz a saint of Christendom, which would bring great prestige.

Now that the Ottoman Empire is still strong, Franz will not do anything. Jerusalem can not bring to strengthen the national power, for a false name to spend hundreds of millions of military expenditure, the cost is still too big.

You also have to consider the international impact, a bad operation will also be taken off the peach, is not worth the loss.

For example, in this Russo-Prussian War, the biggest winner was the British. They not only suppressed the rival Russian Empire, solved the land threat facing India, but also supported several new pawns.

The soon-to-be-established Nordic Commonwealth, Poland, and several khanates in Central Asia, these were all pawns that the British made.

And the price they paid was simply a loan that needed to be repaid. Simply put, the Prussians helped the British fight a war, and had to pay for the military themselves.

Because of the debt, the future of the Kingdom of Prussia’s financial, inevitably fall into the hands of the British, if operated properly the Kingdom of Prussia is also very difficult to get rid of the influence of the British.

The gains of the war ostensibly gave Prussia a path to power. However the road remained rocky and necessitated the federalization of Poland and the German Confederation.

This was comparable in difficulty to Prussia’s unification of the Little Germany region in the original time and space.

It wasn’t completely out of the question, at least the Russians were crippled and incapable of interfering with their actions for a decade or two, and didn’t need to find a way to appease the Russians.

As for France and Austria it’s still the same as it was in the original time period, there’s no way to solve the problem without a fight. Neither Vienna, nor Paris would have watched the rise of a strong Prussia.

Prime Minister Felix spoke, “Your Majesty, it is necessary for us to forcibly take back the Silesian region.

After this war, growth in the strength of the Kingdom of Prussia is bound to occur. In order to avoid the emergence of a powerful Prussia, we must intervene.

If possible, it would be best to take back even the Prussian Saxony region to weaken the Prussian Kingdom.”

This was indeed a solution, as long as Silesia and the Prussian Saxony region were taken away from Prussia, the two duchies of Schleswig-Holstein, which the Prussians had harvested this time, would be nothing.

This is only on the surface, if we look at the resources and industrial development potential, the value of these regions is still far beyond the two duchies of Schleswig-Holstein.

Then the Prussian Kingdom’s gain this time was only the Baltic region, and after subtracting the losses in the war, they actually had very little left.

The Baltic region is not a small area, and its resources are not bad, but the only thing is that it does not have a dominant ethnic group. Unless the Berlin government diversified, assimilation would be a problem.

Without solving this problem, the Prussian kingdom’s strength growth is also false fat. Austria’s hand now is also considered to be the bottom of the barrel.

Franz thought for a moment and said, “It is not easy to do this step, the Berlin government will not easily compromise. The current international situation, we are also not convenient to directly use force.

Relying on diplomacy alone, trying to get the Kingdom of Prussia to make concessions, the possibility of this is almost zero.”

This is a fact, the Berlin government is not **** the government, not so weak, say cede land.

The use of force to force, and will damage Austria’s international image, cause the European countries jealousy, in diplomatic isolation.

So in the beginning, Franz was not prepared to recover the Silesian region, let alone the Prussian Saxony region.

Other people were afraid of the Prussian Kingdom getting bigger, but Franz was not. It took time to consolidate forces, and there was no doubt that he would not leave so much time for the Kingdom of Prussia.

Franz had always believed that the best way to defeat an enemy was not to go to war directly; rather, it was to keep releasing pressure on the rival enemy so that they would make mistakes under pressure.

The fact that the Kingdom of Prussia took the risk of starting this war was a sign that they couldn’t handle the pressure. They chose to rely on gambling to break the game. The first step has already been taken, is the second step still far away?

It is much less costly to wait for the enemy to make a mistake and then strike again. Without the Kingdom of Prussia, what excuse would Franz have found to go after the German Confederation?

The German Confederation was so peaceful, and most of the states were on good terms with Austria, that it did not give Franz a chance to solve the problem by force.

Internal problems were far more difficult to solve than external ones, and the emperor still had to have the hearts and minds of the people. This includes the same for the Kingdom of Prussia, if you can’t harvest the hearts of the people, then don’t bother.

Franz didn’t want to create a bunch of chaotic parties out there, specializing in sabotage every day. The lessons of history told him that any emperor who neglected the hearts of the people ended up paying a terrible price.

Prime Minister Felix replied, ”It’s true that it’s not easy, but we still need to try. Even if we can’t get it back in the end, we have to let the people see the government’s determination to reclaim their homeland.”

The “people” was obviously not only the people, but also the Saxon government. Ever since the outbreak of the Russo-Prussian War, the Saxon government had been working hard to reclaim the Prussian Saxony, and the Vienna government had to take the wishes of the Saxon people into consideration as well.

In addition to Saxony, there were a number of Austrians who were nostalgic for Silesia, including many in the Vienna court, who advocated the recovery of the Silesian region.

Originally, the measure they took was to secretly support the Russians and take the Russians’ hand to recover these regions. Now that the Tsarist government was defeated, this plan went bankrupt.

These people began to lobby the Vienna government again, and it is clear that Prime Minister Felix was also influenced, or perhaps he himself was a supporter of the recovery of Silesia.

He wanted to try, even though there was little hope. If it failed, it was a big deal that the Foreign Office had worked for nothing, and it wasn’t a loss to put on a show, but if it succeeded, it was a gain.

Running through the causes and consequences, Franz nodded in acquiescence.

(End of chapter)