Chapter 519: The Revising Power of History

  Chapter 507 The Revising Power of History

The cold wind was in the air, and St. Petersburg in September already had a slight coolness. In the Winter Palace, Alexander II was still dealing with political affairs, and the wrinkles imprinted on his forehead spoke of the vicissitudes of the years.

Experienced the Russian empire from prosperity to decline, Alexander II has a strong sense of mission, do not allow themselves to have the slightest indulgence.

A man in his forties or fifties came close and whispered, “Your Majesty, this is a top secret message from Vienna.”

After receiving the sealed information and confirming the seal, Alexander II pointed at the secret document and slowly said, “Got it, Ferens you go out!”

What is called top secret information is definitely a major event, Alexander II did not have a hobby of sharing information with people around him, it has nothing to do with trust, it’s just the monarch’s instinct.

Opened the secret document, the content was already something that happened half a month ago. There is no way, these days there is no radio, if you use wired telegraph to spread the news, how to hide from the Austrians?

With a password even more can not, that is the equivalent of openly tell people, this message has a problem, quickly come to check!

Telegrams in this era were charged by the number of words, and ordinary telegrams only had a few words. Intelligence transmission obviously can not be so hasty, in case the meaning is not expressed clearly, it would be a disaster.

From Vienna to St. Petersburg, it only took half a month, this efficiency is already the limit of the times.

Time passed, Alexander II forehead wrinkles more and more tight. Finally finishing reading the secret document, a sigh slowly came out.

At this moment Alexander II was confused, things did not go according to his plan. The Vienna government’s emphasis on monetary hegemony was not as high as he had expected.

Of course, it was possible that what was put out was a smokescreen, but he didn’t dare to bet on it. The consequences of this lapse in judgment could be disastrous.

Giving up the plan, that was impossible. If he wasn’t able to obtain enough capital from the outside world this time, the development of the Russian Empire was going to suffer.

It didn’t matter in normal times, a slower development was fine, and it would also allow for a more solid foundation to be laid.

But not now, the enemy won’t give them that much time. If the Russian Empire was not able to increase its strength in the shortest possible time, it would be destroyed without waiting for them to develop.

Don’t look at the Russian Empire is still a giant, but it can’t help that there are many enemies in the neighborhood, one family can’t eat them, a dozen or so swarming around them, that’s not necessarily the case.

Once another failure, the prestige of the Russian Empire accumulated over hundreds of years will be lost in one go. The best result would be to languish like the Ottoman Empire.

This brings us to a dead end. Falling back to the British, one could get financial aid, but there was a high probability of losing Austria, the most important ally; continuing the Russo-Austrian alliance, there was no solution to the financial problem.

If Russia wanted to win the next war, Austrian support was crucial, at least if the Austrians did not fall to Prussia. This was a geopolitical decision, and both Britain and France had to take a back seat on this issue.

The Russo-Austrian alliance was still good enough to get unconditional Austrian support without paying a price. If there was no more alliance, this would have to be spoken of in terms of interests.

There was also a voice inside that told him: be careful, things are not that simple.

In order to break up the Russo-Austrian alliance, in order to establish the currency hegemony of the British pound, the British naturally reason to make a bid. But what if the purpose was achieved? Who knew if the British would default?

Treaties are often a waste of paper. What if the British did not fulfill their obligations, or if they discounted them in the process?

What’s done is done. Once you’ve taken this step, it’s hard to go back. It was easy to break up the Russo-Austrian alliance, but harder to build it up again.

Alexander II had anti-Austrian tendencies, but that was based on the strength of the Russian Empire. Now that the Russian Empire had declined, the Russo-Austrian alliance became crucial.

Now he somewhat understood why Nicholas I insisted on the establishment of the Russo-Austrian alliance back then. This alliance existed not only to capture Constantinople, but also to guarantee the strategic security of the Russian Empire.

As long as this alliance existed, there was no fear of foreign invasion of European territory. Including now as well, before the alliance was dissolved, Prussia would never dare to make a move against them first.

After the failure of the Prussian-Russian War, Russia was able to pass through the period of danger, and the role of the Russian-Austrian alliance was also the most important factor in it.

After the establishment of the Russo-Austrian alliance, both countries gained rich benefits. Russia succeeded in expanding in the Balkan Peninsula and seized the coveted Constantinople; Austria realized its expansion in the Balkan Peninsula and also annexed South Germany to rebuild the Shenla Empire.

If he wished, Alexander II could have gained the Dardanelles in exchange for territory and control of the shipping lanes to the Mediterranean.

At the beginning of his reign, he would have tried to make this territorial deal with Austria to expand Russia’s power into the Mediterranean.

Now there were no more such unrealistic fantasies. It was easy to enter the Mediterranean, but difficult to gain a foothold.

If not for the establishment of the Anglo-French-Austrian triple alliance, the British were squeezed out, Russia on what basis in the Mediterranean to establish a foothold?

……

The more you think about it, the harder it is to make up your mind. Without money it was a no-brainer, and the Russian-Austrian alliance was equally important, and it was destined to be a difficult choice.

In fact, Alexander II did not have much of a choice at all. Whether or not the Russo-Austrian alliance could be maintained was not only his decision, but also the position of the government in Vienna.

If the Austrians didn’t want to renew the contract, then even if he didn’t cooperate with the British, the alliance would be equally bankrupt.

Only Franz wants to save face, when the Russian-Austrian alliance was established in the period of Austrian weakness, to a certain extent, it is also the Russians pulled Austria a hand.

Because of the need for face, so the Vienna government gave the outside world the impression that has always been in defense of the Russian-Austrian alliance, without the slightest intention to fall on the well.

This illusion made Alexander II make a misjudgment. It was only with this test, wanting to raise its own price through Britain and France, to the Vienna government for more loans.

As a result, the first step was taken out, and now it was in an awkward situation. The Vienna government seems to be infuriated, not at all according to the formula.

Alexander II’s headache, Franz is not clear, he himself is still annoyed. The situation in Mexico had finally collapsed, and just less than a week after the withdrawal of the French troops, Massimiliano I lost control of the country.

Now Empress Carlotta had gone back to Europe to ask for help, had failed to convince the French, and was now back in Vienna.

So much for asking for help, well at least come up with benefits. Unfortunately most of Mexico’s properties were mortgaged to the French, and Massimiliano I simply did not have much leverage in his hands.

Even the money to recruit mercenaries are not, the lessons of history told Franz, the emperor poor into this, basically will not have any good results.

Mexico this muddy water, Franz is not going to trip. Let Empress Carlotta persuade Massimiliano I to abdicate, the result was in turn educated, angry Franz left on the spot.

And thought abnormal people have no way to communicate, what “the Mexican people need ……”? In Franz’s opinion, the Mexican people now hate to send Massimiliano I to the guillotine.

This is not the way to talk with one’s eyes open. If at the beginning of the succession, Massimiliano I still have a chance to save the day, but now whoever goes up can not.

The people’s patience has been tossed out, so many years of reform, just stay on paper, the introduction of course: the policy of benefit to the country and the people, and finally turned into a disaster of the country and the people’s policy.

Turned into a lonely emperor, there are a bunch of mouths left around the party, Franz does not know what to say.

In Austria did not get support, Empress Carlotta went to other European countries to ask for help. Without even having to think about it, Franz knew it was not going to work out.

Without benefits, who would want to go into the muddy waters of Mexico. With the French in the foreground, everyone had to think twice before acting.

Now Franz is waiting for the rebels to break through Mexico City, and then cited Du Massimiliano I back to the country, even if it is finished.

This won’t take long, and as soon as the French withdraw, the rebels pull off a major counteroffensive. Expecting the Mexican government forces to suppress the rebellion, it would be better to expect the rebels to break out into infighting and be torn apart in internal conflict.

Now the Mexican insurgent army is also a lot of internal contradictions, mixed with a large number of conservatives, racists, as long as the detonation of these contradictions, will immediately be torn apart.

But before that happens, they have a common goal of getting Massimiliano I out of the way. When that goal is accomplished, Mexico is going to start a century-long civil war.

It is worth mentioning that many of the leaders of the insurrectionary army, or royalist and constitutionalist origin, and even the original champion of Massimiliano’s merit.

To be able to turn them all into revolutionaries, Franz had to admit that Massimiliano I still has the ability. The emperor did this, the history of the world can not find a few.

However, these people could not be complacent for long, when the revolution succeeded, it would be their turn to be unlucky. If they are better off, where will the Habsburgs put their faces?

Massimiliano did garbage in Mexico, then only let them do worse, must be lined up, only to be able to slightly save face.

In the original time and space this gang was out of shape, just took power and fell into infighting, now Franz just pushed on. Let the warlords chaos come early, and in the meantime expand their sphere of influence.

No, can’t say it’s an early descent, it should be the corrective force of history, letting history return to the original track.

Because of Franz’s butterfly effect, the French invested more power, allowing the Mexican Empire to hold on for a few more years.

(End of chapter)