Chapter 655: Destroying Things
Chapter 641: Doing Damage
The French restarted their colonial development program, which still caused an uproar. With Austria as a successful example, no one could be sure that the French would fail.
In recent years, France has gradually been on the downside in international competition, and the biggest problem is that domestic economic development has hit a bottleneck, unable to keep up with the pace of Britain and Austria.
Especially in the last two years, France’s economic growth rate has fallen sharply, while the British and Austrian economies continue to soar.
It can be seen from the total economic output, originally surpassed by the French Britannia, and now there are signs of catching up.
This is not a small problem, the total population of the British Isles is just over thirty-one million, while France now has a population of nearly sixty million.
Purely calculating the per capita income, the French people’s income, only sixty percent of the British.
This is mainly because the Italian regions are dragging their feet, especially in Southern Italy, where the local economy is still agricultural and has hardly developed over the years.
The gap would have been even wider if total industry had been counted. The total industrial volume of Greater France is less than half that of the British and less than forty percent that of Austria.
The gap continued to widen as time went on. In this era, we have not yet realized the power of industry, but the lack of money in the pocket can still be clearly felt.
At its peak, France’s financial income was once close to the British, Napoleon III era and the British can also carry out the arms race, and now France’s financial income is just a little bit higher than the British mainland.
This is the impact of the butterfly effect, the Italian region is divided into two, peak period of France + half of Italy + colonies, fiscal revenue to the British is not surprising.
However, the water in this is very large, the real economy accounts for a very small proportion, the processing and manufacturing industry only accounts for about ten percent of the total French economy, the rest is either agriculture, or the financial sector, as well as part of the service industry, of which the financial sector accounts for the largest proportion.
What is false is false, and will not be transformed into reality because of a beautiful lie.
Since the last economic crisis, France’s bubble economy has been burst. In the absence of industrial pillars, the financial sector alone could not support an empire.
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As the biggest beneficiary of the development of the colonies, the Vienna government was undoubtedly the most aware of the benefits embedded in it.
If the benefits were not large enough, even if Franz had insisted, Austrian Africa would not have developed to the point it is today.
To put it in layman’s terms, once a colony is developed, there is no need to worry about industrial raw materials, and there is a market for the sale of goods.
Now the market of Austrian Africa is not weaker than that of Spain, and all the Austrian colonies together, the market is comparable to that of the Commonwealth of Prussia.
This is just the beginning, how to say there are more than 20 million square kilometers, the development potential is not the Pupo Federation can be compared.
It is by relying on this piece of self-reserved land, coupled with a large market in the mainland, Austria was able to leap forward and become the world’s first industrial power.
Since the French restarted their colonization program, the Austrian government has been on alert. The volume of the French empire was now huge. If the last shortcoming was solved again, it would be a threat to Austria as well.
Economy Minister Reinhardt Haldgen: “French economic development is constrained by industrial raw materials and is now approaching its limits. Now that the French government has restarted its colonial development program, it is clearly a self-help campaign.
If the French plan succeeds, our desire to crush France economically becomes a moot point.
The European continent is too small to accommodate so many great powers. With the development of industry, conflicts between countries will continue to increase in the future, and there is even the possibility of a great war sweeping the continent.
If we can’t take advantage of the opportunity to put the French down, the French will inevitably collide with us in the future, and this can’t be stopped by personal power.
For the sake of the empire’s long-term stability, it is necessary for us to eliminate this hidden danger in advance. I propose that we take action against the French and disrupt their colonial development plans.”
It was impossible not to be vigilant, who made Napoleon bullish? Even after all these years, the Vienna government never let down its vigilance against them.
Foreign Minister Weissenberg: “I object, the French have already failed once with their colonial development plans, and it is equally unknown whether they will succeed this time.
We can’t let France and Austria go to the opposite side in advance just because of uncertain risks.
If we do it because there might be a threat, then there is a threat to the Pupo Federation, Russia, and Britain, and are we still enemies of the whole world?”
Economics Minister Reinhardt-Haldgen retorted, “It’s not the same thing, the British are a sea power, and the threat to us, while great, is not fatal.
The Pupo Federation and the Russian Empire are hostile to each other and have already consumed most of their energies, we just have to play the balance between them.
The only exception to this is France, which like us is a land power and very close in military strength, our main advantage is economic.
If we let the French make up for this shortcoming, the French government will probably embark on the path of foreign expansion again, we can’t watch the old Napoleon story repeat itself!”
Colonial Minister Stephen: “It’s not that serious, colonial development is not an overnight problem, it requires constant investment for decades and decades.
Judging from the current situation, the French folk are not keen on developing colonies, and the French government alone is limited in the amount of money it can put into colonial development.
We all know what the French colonies are like. They were basically deserts and wastelands, with few areas suitable for human habitation.
The colonies in French America and Asia are too far away and small in size to be ignored for the time being, and the French should not be able to take care of them in the short term.
The real potential for development, in fact, only French Algeria, Egypt, half of Tunisia, plus half of Morocco, these areas are also part of the coastal land is not bad.
According to the information we have collected, these areas are relatively poor in mineral resources, and many rich mines have been discovered, most of which are difficult to develop because of natural conditions.
The area suitable for agricultural production will not exceed 400,000 square kilometers at most. Even if we develop a plantation economy, it’s unknown if we can succeed under the competition from the outside world.”
(Remarks on the area of fertile land suitable for agricultural production in each of the above countries: 210,000 square kilometers in Algeria, 220,000 square kilometers in Morocco, 70,000 square kilometers in Tunisia, and 35,000 square kilometers in Egypt)
Desert empires are such a tragedy that the French occupied three quarters of the continent’s deserts by occupying less than thirty percent of the continent’s territory.
The world’s third colonial empire, in addition to the relatively large area, the substantial gains may not be comparable to the Dutch, at least the South Seas region is rich enough.
Prime Minister Felix: “The French should not be underestimated, they still have a strong heritage. If the French government is willing to make up its mind, they are financially capable of completing the colonial development program.
Not to mention developing all the colonies, as long as the Algeria, Morocco and Egypt regions are developed, the French will be able to increase their comprehensive national power by twenty to thirty percent.
This is also a threat to us. However, this is a future issue, and it is too early to talk about it now.
To directly sabotage the French colonial development program is too extreme, things have not yet come to that point, early confrontation with the French is not worth the loss.
It is enough to create some trouble for them secretly and delay their colonial development program. The longer we delay, the more favorable it will be for us.”
Creating havoc was inevitable, Britain, France and Austria were allies and equally rivals. If they could put one of them down, people wouldn’t mind laying their hands on them.
Franz nodded in agreement, there was no need to be in such a hurry even if they wanted to turn the tables.
The French had only announced a plan that hadn’t even been implemented yet, so it was perfectly fine to wait until they were halfway through the process before striking.
Preliminary sabotage, just as Austria for the colonial development period, the French government did the same thing.
Only at that time, the French were also busy expanding their colonies and had limited strength on the African continent, and were not able to commit many resources.
When it came to the later part, after a large number of immigrants poured into the African continent, Austria’s strength in the African continent grew dramatically, and people just couldn’t do the sabotage even if they wanted to.
Foreign Minister Weissenberg proposed: “The Paris Conference is coming to an end, by then everyone’s sphere of influence will have been delineated, and then if you want to make a move, you have to consider the position of each country.
At present, our core is still to fight for enough time to develop. If we want to delay the French colonization plans, it is best to start with the economy and avoid a direct military conflict.”
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(End of chapter)