Chapter 734: The Feasibility of North Germany
Chapter 717 The Feasibility of Northern Germany
St. Petersburg, looking at the hands of the war report, Alexander II face joy disappeared, leaving only a thick sadness.
The Russian army has won a great victory on the front line, and strategically has pressed the enemy to breathe, and is getting closer and closer to winning the war.
However, behind these victories, they were all piled up by Russian soldiers with a blanket of white bones. Looking at the ever-increasing casualty figures, Alexander II admitted that he was afraid.
This world is not just two countries, Russia and Prussia, the Russian Empire has many enemies, in order to win this war lost all the family, what to do behind?
……
Foreign Minister Heraldo Yesserot: “Your Majesty, this morning the Austrian Minister in St. Petersburg sent us a diplomatic note that the government of Vienna has initiated an international conference to mediate this war.”
Alexander II nodded, “At last.”
It was as if a sigh of relief was mixed with a few moments of uneasiness.
After pausing for a few moments of effort, Alexander II asked, “What conditions did the Austrians give?”
Foreign Minister Gerardo Yseroth shook his head, “It was just an ordinary diplomatic note, and the Austrians did not state their position.
Judging from the current situation, I’m afraid the Vienna government will not take a position easily.”
This is the truth, the Vienna government is really having a hard time choosing right now. On one side is interest, on the other side is public opinion, no matter how the choice is made, it is wrong.
Since there is no choice, it should not take a stand first and wait for the situation to develop further before taking a stand.
At this point in time, Austria does not need to rely on taking sides to make a living, and its own share of the proceeds will not be lost if it is a little early or a little late.
After a few moments of hesitation, Alexander II made a decision: “Send a message back to Austria, we agree to accept mediation.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is ready to negotiate, there is a hard battle to be fought next. The blood of the generals can not be shed in vain, absolutely can not let the battlefield to get something, at the negotiation table to spit out.”
Diplomatic game, although not see smoke, the intensity is not inferior to the battlefield.
After the establishment of a new international system by Britain, France and Austria, the victory or defeat of the Continental War has not only been able to decide on the battlefield.
Military win, just a beginning; the final benefit belongs to, or to determine at the negotiation table.
Of course, Russia is also a big country, the right to speak is still there, will not be slaughtered. If you win on the battlefield, you will have the absolute upper hand at the negotiation table, and the difference lies only in the size of the gains.
……
The Tsarist government agreed, and there was no reason why the Berlin government should not. They are the ones who can’t hold out now, and even the radicals in the army know that the tide has turned, and if they don’t negotiate, they won’t have the capital to negotiate.
So far in the war, more than 400,000 people had died in battle in the Kingdom of Prussia alone, and if you add in those who had died of disease and those who had succumbed to serious injuries, that number could have increased by 200,000 to 300,000 more.
The number of dead alone is 600,000 to 700,000, and the number of wounded and disabled is naturally not small, so the permanent attrition of more than a million people is not exaggerated at all.
For Prussia, with a population of only ten million, every family was already in mourning and everyone was crying out in pain. With the exception of a few who were too deeply poisoned, most people’s dreams have awakened.
Fortunately, the population structure is younger these days, the proportion of young and strong is higher, if caught up with the aging society, the casualties so large would have collapsed.
Prussian army command, the news of the negotiations came, Mauch as if overnight aged ten years, this war is really too big a blow to him.
The gap in strength is not something that can be made up by personal power. All the way to win the war, but finally in the victory to end the war with defeat.
Lost the war, Mao Qi’s famous general aura did not fall, but more and more loud, have to say this is an irony.
Forcing back his inner grief, Mao Qi continued to fulfill his duty: “Order the troops to strengthen their alert, and strictly prevent the Russians from sneak attacks.”
Unlike previous war defeats, the accusations against him as the commander-in-chief at home for this war’s defeat were not great.
Perhaps it was because everyone had been hit too hard and hadn’t slowed down yet. No one clamored for a change of generals or shouted at him.
“Yes, Marshal.”
“Yes, Marshal.”
……
The sound of answering in twos and threes made Mao Qi’s face more and more ugly: “Have you not eaten? One by one, you have no energy, look at yourselves, do you still look like a soldier now?
It is not just losing a war, it’s not like we haven’t lost before, our forefathers were able to pull through, why can’t we do it!”
No one answered, judging from their expressions, most of them looked ashamed, and only a very few were indifferent.
There is no greater sorrow than the death of the heart. The more one knows, the less confidence one has in Prussia.
Now the European pattern is basically stabilized, Prussia wants to turn the tide is too difficult, many people have been desperate.
Seeing the poor results, Mauch sighed helplessly. A few words might be able to wake up a confused person with a scolding, but it would not be so useful for people who were already awake.
“Alright, I don’t care what’s in your hearts. As long as you put on this uniform, you must fulfill your duties.
At this point in time, I don’t expect you guys to be prim and proper, to be able to fight back on the battlefield.
As long as you do your job well, don’t give the enemy an opportunity to take advantage of, and preserve the last of Prussia’s capital, that is the best return to the country that gave birth to you.”
……
London, the news of the acceptance of Austrian mediation by Prussia came to the British government as if it were in a black cloud.
Prime Minister Benjamin: “The Austrians are going to call a peace conference in Vienna, and both Prussia and Russia have accepted the invitation; the hegemony of Britain is being provoked, and we must act.”
Although it is Britain, France and Austria, everyone’s default boss is still Britain. This Vienna Peace Conference clearly broke that convention.
Instead of being able to mediate the Russo-Prussian War, the London government let the Austrians do it, which meant that Britain’s influence on the continent lagged behind.
It doesn’t matter if it’s another region, the British Empire’s world hegemony, and it hasn’t been able to penetrate into every region, and it doesn’t hurt to lose regional hegemony in one or two places.
But Europe can not, these days the center of the world is in Europe. There is only a thin line between European hegemony and world hegemony.
Whether in terms of economy, or military, the European continent exceeds the rest of the world combined. With continental hegemony, world hegemony was practically set.
The British government could not tolerate such a thing, although Austria’s convening of the Vienna Peace Conference was not the same as obtaining continental hegemony, but it still broke Britain’s implicit hegemony in the European continent.
It is always easier to destroy than to build, and Britain’s position in Europe had been built up through the efforts of hundreds of years, and now that it had taken a hit, it was almost impossible to recover from it.
As a world hegemon, the British took too many benefits. Austria was not the only one who coveted their interests, but everyone dared not do anything because of the prestige of the British.
Austria started, if the London government does not react in time to dispel the delusions of other countries, they will be caught in an endless stream of temptations and provocations, and there will be no peace.
Foreign Minister Edward: “The Russians we can’t influence, the Berlin government is really holding out now, and getting them to reject Austria’s offer is simply impossible.
It is no longer realistic to dismantle the Austrian plan by starting directly with the peace conference, and it can only be countered in other ways.
Perhaps we can increase our investment and get the North German Empire established as soon as possible. Severing Austria’s dream of a central European empire should deter the countries of Europe.”
Before this, the London government was also planning the North German Empire, only that it had been pushing behind the scenes because it was afraid of Austria’s reaction. Now that it was torn apart, there was naturally no need to be polite.
Garfield, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, objected, “It is not easy to establish a North German Empire, most of the German states have limited interest in it, plus the Austrians may sabotage it, and the chances of success are too low.
To stand up and push for it directly is fine if it succeeds, but if the plan fails, it will be another blow to our reputation.
Successive failures will shake our allies, for now it’s better to preserve Prussia before considering how to retaliate against Austria.”
How many ways for Britain to retaliate against Austria?
The answer is: very many.
Either there is too little influence to achieve the goal, or there are consequences that could backfire on itself in one bad move.
For example: messing with the colonies.
It’s just that the ones they were able to get their hands on were poor villages, and even if they succeeded, the impact they caused would be so small that they wouldn’t be able to cause a stir in the European world at all.
Interception at sea and obstruction of shipping is also a solution.
Unfortunately can not come openly, the Royal Navy can pretend to be pirates, the Austrian Navy can likewise follow the example, this thing is a lose-lose situation.
The most effective way, or in the European continent to make things. This is very challenging for the London government, since the British-French relationship is cold, their influence in mainland Europe has been affected.
If there were still French hitmen around, Franz wouldn’t be messing things up at this point in time.
Edward, the Foreign Secretary, shook his head, ”Sir, do we have a choice?
If we don’t press Austria down, more countries will pop up next. By then we will be too busy to take care of ourselves, where will we have the energy to retaliate against Austria.
The establishment of North Germany was originally planned in advance by us, and with the fiasco of the Kingdom of Prussia, the chances of success are already high.”
With the fiasco of the Kingdom of Prussia, the European countries’ fear of this North German Empire was minimized, and many of the countries that were originally opposed to it had the possibility of turning to support it.
This is what interests dictate, and it is not without benefit that the Berlin government is borrowing around, at least now the debtors have to take care of their own pocketbooks when considering international issues.
For example: France, although not much was lent out in this war, but a lot of money was released in front of it, both from Prussia and Poland.
Poland is no longer there, and there is nothing anyone can do to make the Russians spit it out. All these debts fell on the Berlin government, which under normal circumstances would certainly not have been able to pay them back.
To have these debts honored, it would also have to help Prussia restore its economy, which in turn would require an investment that the French would surely not be willing to continue to pay out of their pockets.
At this time the importance of the North German Empire is reflected, as the central government can not watch the collapse of the following state, even if not directly for Prussia to pay the debt, they have to contribute to the bailout, to help the Kingdom of Prussia to restore the economy.
A loose alliance of German states could not threaten the interests of France, and was also able to hinder the unification of Central Europe by Austria, which was very likely to be supported by the Paris government.
Including the Russian Empire is also able to be bought, do not look at the Prussian-Russian two countries fight blood, as long as the interests in place, many things are negotiable.
The Prussian Kingdom, which was badly wounded, had lost the strength to threaten Russia after the war, even if it was united with the Germans to form the North German Empire.
The population and the size of the territory, which determined the upper limit of this newborn country, could no longer catch up with the previous Prussian-Prussian Confederation. Not to mention that the many states within the country were too fragmented to consolidate their power.
The Czarist government was so poor that it was hard to win the war, so it definitely wanted to extort a war reparation.
It was easy to get the Berlin government to sign an indemnity treaty, but the problem came when they wanted the Kingdom of Prussia to pay the indemnity.
There was no one to renew the life of Prussia, not to mention the payment of war reparations, just after the war pensions could crush the country.
On top of that, the Russian-Austrian relationship was involved. It is impossible to say that the Tsarist government did not fear Austria at all.
It was only because of the inseparability of Austria that the two sides did not turn their backs on each other. After the war, Russia’s need for Austria will gradually decrease, and the relationship between the two sides will also change, from allies to competitors is only a matter of time.
To be able to restrict Austria a bit without being out of the way itself, the Tsarist government had no reason to refuse.
(End of chapter)