Chapter 594: The Attacking Frenchmen
Chapter 581 The Attacking Frenchman
The years rushed by, and in the blink of an eye, it was winter again.
With Franz’s many years of experience can judge that this is a warm winter, usually this time of the year Glockner Mountain has already snowed, this year, not to mention snow, even the rain is very little.
Warm winter + drought, almost already announced that the next year’s agricultural production will be reduced. Austria is a large industrial country, but also a large agricultural country, agriculture in the national economy occupies an important position.
The Vienna government has always attached great importance to agricultural production, after years of efforts, the domestic agricultural infrastructure has been perfected, with a set of perfect disaster response system.
Usually as long as it is not a widespread disaster that affects the whole country, Franz will not ask about it. Now caught his attention, mainly occurred in Vienna.
Minister of Agriculture Holls: ”Your Majesty, the current situation is not too bad, according to the data monitored from all over the country, the scope of the disaster’s reach is not very large.
It is mainly concentrated around Vienna and Bohemia, these areas are relatively developed in industry and commerce, and the people’s ability to resist risk is stronger, the reduction in winter wheat production will not cause too much impact.”
This is a benefit brought about by the industrial age, economically developed areas, farmers in the agricultural leisure time to work in the city, has become a common social phenomenon.
Increased sources of income, naturally also increased the ability to resist risk. If we were still in an agricultural society, the government would have to be more vigilant.
Franz just casually asked, within a certain range of food production decline, within Austria’s affordability, “disaster relief” are not necessary.
Reduced production is not a harvest, a hundred or eighty pounds less per acre, is not enough to make farmers go bankrupt. Unless the disaster is persistent, then the government relief is needed, otherwise, the people can get through the disaster by themselves.
……
Foreign Minister Weissenberg: “Your Majesty, news has just come from Paris that the French are prepared to send troops to escort the son of Isabella II back to his country, and that the battle for the Spanish throne is coming to an end.
Judging from the information gathered, Britain and France should have reached an agreement. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs believes that it may be related to the Near Eastern War, and that the London government is giving in on the issue of the Spanish throne dispute in exchange for the French supporting them on the Near Eastern issue.”
Not to Franz’s surprise, the British had to pull in the French if they wanted to keep the Ottoman Empire.
The Parisian government was in constant infighting, but they equally did not want to see Austria pulling out the nails in their backs. With the British giving in on the Spanish throne, it was not surprising that the French chose to support them.
Austria wanted a stable rear, why wouldn’t the French? Spain was different from the Ottoman Empire, and the French could not pull out the nail even if they wanted to.
It wasn’t whether or not they could win the fight, the point was that there was no way to take force. European countries may be able to accept the end of the Ottoman Empire, but will never let Spain be annexed.
Since they can’t be defeated, they can be brought together. Now Spain is also a mess, a lot of internal problems, support a pro-French, and weak government, is completely in the interests of France.
Queen Isabella II of Spain’s reputation has long been infamous, along with her son Alfonso XII also followed the reputation of damage, want to sit on the throne can not be separated from the support of the French.
A weak pro-French government, a long time in the future, the French do not have to worry about the threat from Spain.
Franz: “In that case, we are ready to close. Send a message to Hummel that once Britain and France are fully involved, negotiate with the Ottoman Empire, with the bottom line being to take our area of effective control, plus Jerusalem.
On the Russian side, the Foreign Office appease them as well. How much they can gain depends on the Tsarist government’s own diplomatic skills.”
It was clear in Franz’s mind that this could be the last joint military operation of the Russian-Austrian alliance. According to the current international situation, the Austrian-Russian alliance was already doing more harm than good.
Alexander II was certainly ambitious, suppressed all domestic forces to death, and completed the initial social reforms, but the diplomatic performance was really not to be commended.
On the one hand, the Russian Empire’s historical baggage was too heavy, holding the frame of continental hegemony, and did not adjust its mentality in time; on the other hand, it was too territorial, and the relationship with all the neighbors was not good.
It’s not that it’s wrong to value territories, but the problem is that a lot of the Russian Empire’s territories were grabbed, much like colonies.
When you’re strong, you can value it however you want. When you’re in decline, it’s time to pay attention to ways and means, and you have to give in when you have to.
Unfortunately the Tsarist government didn’t do that, and the last time the Russians lost the Russo-Prussian War, they actually lost on diplomacy.
If the Tsarist government had gathered its ambitions, not to mention at least Central Asia and the Far East would not have been a problem. If it wasn’t for the expansion of the Tsarist government before the war, which pissed people off, Prussia wouldn’t have been able to pull in allies.
It is reasonable to say that after receiving a social venomous beating, the tsarist government should wake up and take the initiative to fix the relationship between neighboring countries. If there are any problems, wait until Prussia is defeated and then deal with them slowly.
Unfortunately, the tsarist government did not change its mindset, treating its neighbors’ recovery of their homeland as an enemy invasion, and believing that its own family was the victim.
Needless to say, playing like that certainly won’t make any friends. Franz very much suspected that in the next Russo-Prussian War, the Russians were also doomed to be under siege.
Because of the Russo-Austrian alliance, it messed up Austria’s relations with these countries as well. Of course, Austria is strong enough, even if the relationship is not good, the treatment of the powers is still there, did not affect the trade with the countries.
Prime Minister Felix reminded, “Your Majesty, why don’t you notify the Tsarist government first and leave them a buffer time.”
The Russo-Austrian alliance was not yet over, and the pitfalls of being a teammate could not be made too obvious. The Near East War was able to fight the current situation, mainly because Austria was providing strategic supplies.
If Austria withdrew from the war, the tsarist government could not afford the expenses. The same strategic materials, the cost of different countries are not the same.
Comparatively speaking, the industrial powers with their own production capacity, the cost of strategic materials to be lower, while the need to import the agricultural countries to bear the cost is much higher.
Take weapons and ammunition as an example, the Russians need to pay the cost is higher than the Austrian one-third, this is still the cost of normal times, if the war time even if it is higher than half of the possible.
There are many factors involved, such as: production costs, transportation costs, procurement costs, and the integrity of the bureaucracy.
If the government in Vienna were to take advantage of the Russians, the Ottoman Empire would pay nothing, and the tsarist government would have to withdraw its troops.
The main enemy of the Russians was the Kingdom of Prussia, and there was no way the Tsarist government would have been able to fight the Ottoman Empire with all its strength.
The war had gone on so far that the strategic goal of the Tsarist government to weaken the Ottoman Empire had been accomplished. Even if the Ottoman Empire was reborn in flames, it would not be able to threaten the Russian Empire in twenty years.
Reminding the Russians of this and not having to pay for it, Franz naturally readily accepted good advice.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs informs the Russians and passes on the news that Britain and France are leaning on them, and I’m sure the Tsarist government will understand.”
It was no good not understanding, without Austria to contribute money and supplies, the Tsarist government simply did not have the financial resources to continue the war.
……
Downing Street Prime Minister’s Office, Prime Minister Gerston is now in a very unhappy mood, said in an icy tone, “Raul, call the cabinet members over for a meeting.”
Franz thought that the British in order to keep the Ottoman Empire, made concessions on the issue of the Spanish throne, in fact stood in London government did not make a decision so quickly.
Austria was a threat, as would France, and whichever one was allowed to grow larger would threaten Britain’s interests.
Unless there was no alternative, the London government would not compromise with the French.
In the original time and space the British fell to the Entente, or after the German II Empire expanded its navy and made them feel threatened, until then they had always wavered.
Now Austria can not have a big expansion of the navy, the size of the navy has been under the French, the total tonnage ranked third in the world.
From the British standpoint, both France and Austria were huge threats. In favor of these two threats have a common weakness, it is necessary to develop land power at the same time, in the European continent, the two countries and each other, the pressure of the government in London is not big.
……
Prime Minister Gerston questioned, “Your Excellency the Marquis, didn’t you tell me that the French were too busy with internal strife to be involved in international affairs?
What’s going on now, we held Austria for them, and the French directly sent troops to interfere in the Spanish throne dispute.
I really can’t imagine what a stir this news would cause if it got out.”
Marquis McLean was also in tears, he really didn’t expect the French in the midst of infighting to suddenly come up with this move.
It had to be said that the French had picked a good time. Britain and Austria are in conflict over the Ottoman issue, and the two countries are holding each other back with no effort to intervene in the dispute over the Spanish throne.
“His Excellency the Prime Minister, this was an error of judgment on our part, underestimating the ambitions of the French. Things have come to a head, now we must find a way to make good or we will have created the biggest joke of the century.
With the current situation, we can only choose one of two things. Either we join forces with the French to preserve the Ottoman Empire, or we join forces with Austria to force the French to give up interfering in the Spanish succession.
Personally, I suggest we keep the Ottoman Empire first, and the Spanish problem will come in time. There are no permanent allies in politics, if the Spanish government can be pro-French today, they can be pro-British tomorrow.
If the Ottoman Empire fell, it would be difficult to resurrect it. Without the Ottoman Empire’s hold, Austria will be able to fully expand into Central Europe by then, and the balance of Europe will likely be broken.”
There was another reason Marquis Maclean didn’t say, and that was that the intervention in the Near East War had already begun. If he were to strike now, it would be tantamount to a failure of the intervention and would be slammed by the opposition party.
(End of chapter)