Chapter 738: Ideology is the Core of Unity
Chapter 721 – Ideology is the Core of Unity
St. Petersburg, with the assassination death of Alexander II, the whole city was tense.
The military and police are constantly on the move, hunting for members of the Revolutionary Party. The prisons were on the verge of overcrowding, yet the mastermind behind it still hadn’t surfaced.
The Winter Palace, as is customary in the Russian Empire, since the death of Alexander II, Alexandrovich has presided as Crown Prince.
Perhaps spurred on by the assassination and death of his father, Alexandrovich went to the other extreme and simply stayed at home.
Stay at home does not affect the office. Apprehend the murderer does not need the Crown Prince personally on the battlefield, the following there are people who want to take this opportunity to level the playing field.
……
Alexandrovich asked, “Has the man been found yet?”
The Minister of Police, Nicholas Federo, replied with a shaky voice, “Found, but unfortunately our people arrived a step too late and the suspect is already dead.
Ostensibly he died by suicide, after our careful examination, we found that the dead man had done a fierce mental struggle before he was born, he should have been forced to commit suicide.”
There was no need for him to be nervous, with such a big case happening, he, the police minister, could not be blamed. Going home to farm was not scary, what was scary was the delay in getting a result and being dealt with by the new czar as a rebel.
Nothing is impossible, there are too many doubts about the assassination of Alexander II, and it is necessary to come up with a telling answer to give everyone an explanation.
Politics is cruel, if you can’t find the real culprit, it’s not impossible to find someone to take the blame.
Everyone knows that the Minister of Police, Nicholas Federer, is a close confidant of Alexander II, and could not have planned the assassination, but he is precisely the person who is capable of accomplishing the silencing and covering up the case.
The policing of the periphery of the Tsar’s trip was the responsibility of the Ministry of Police, and on the day of the murder there was a large-scale violent vandalism in the vicinity, and Alexander II ordered these police officers to go and put a stop to it, creating an opportunity for the assassin.
This responsibility certainly can not be Alexander II to carry, the police department must bear it. The police department responsible for investigating the assassination was even more to blame for the large number of suspects who committed “suicide”.
As the head of the police force, Nicholas Federico was practically unable to get out of it. Unless the real culprit can be found, otherwise his suspicion will not be cleared.
Alexandrovich glared at him fiercely and chided, ”Rubbish! Those in the know have all been suicided one by one, and you guys actually haven’t even found a single trace, is it that one day you’ll be suicided as well before you realize it?”
Nicholas Federico’s face turned green, his body constantly trembling, as if he might collapse at any time.
“You were also suicided,” the meaning of this statement was too much. Nicholas Federo admitted that he was intimidated, if the Crown Prince started to suspect him, it would be over.
Evidence?
That was completely overthinking it, a lot of things in this world don’t need evidence. When it came to regicide, it was enough to have someone to suspect, it didn’t matter if there was evidence or not.
Looking at the Police Minister’s behavior, Alexandrovich’s heart let out a sigh of relief for no reason. Knowing that it was right to be afraid, if the Minister of Police was unmoved, then there was a real problem.
There was no way, Alexander II left too suddenly, and Alexandrovich was completely unprepared to succeed the throne.
Keeping his father’s previous team, that was also forced. Now even if he wanted to change people, Alexandrovich did not know who to change on.
Is the Minister of Police, Nicholas Federow, really incompetent? Obviously not. If he were a loser, he wouldn’t have been able to hold a high position. The current performance is not good, that is frightened by the current situation.
As the person implicated in the regicide, if he can still calmly respond, either his heart is like a rock, or he has no scruples.
Either way, it’s a threat to Alexandrovich, who is about to succeed the throne.
After a pause, Alexandrovich continued, “Since you can’t find out, let’s leave it to those who have the ability to find out! I have invited detectives from various European countries, you guys are responsible for cooperating well.”
Isn’t inviting foreign help afraid of losing face?
The answer was: not afraid!
The Emperor has been assassinated. The Tsar’s government has lost its face. For Alexandrovich, he can’t sleep until he finds out who’s behind it.
Compared to his own safety, face is not so important. In this assassination case, it is obvious that there are domestic interests involved, Alexandrovich does not know who is reliable, looking for foreign help is also a necessity.
Of course, this is all in the open, deliberately done to the outside world to see, so that everyone thinks that he, the Crown Prince skills are exhausted.
Secretly, Marshal Ivanov really rushed back to receive the reward with meritorious officials, these people are the real foundation of the Tsar.
Not that there are no loyalists in St. Petersburg, the problem is that Alexandrovich now can not distinguish who is loyal and who is treacherous, in order to be safe, he can only transfer troops back.
Whether or not the real culprits could be found, a major purge was inevitable. Unlike the last time Alexander II cleansed the country, this time it was going to be blood.
In a sense, after the First Russo-Prussian War, Alexander II’s purge on the grounds of anti-corruption laid the foundation for the reforms that followed.
It likewise laid the groundwork for his own assassination, and from 1871 onwards, Alexander II lived a good life of being assassinated every other day.
Over the years, the number of assassins hanged by the Tsar’s government exceeded four figures, but that still did not stop those whose interests had been compromised from going after him.
There were so many cases of assassination during the time of Alexander II, but very few of them were found to be the real culprits, and basically the revolutionaries or patriots took the blame.
If the real culprits could not be found, speculations could actually be made. Whose interests were compromised and who needed to retaliate? Who wanted Alexander II dead the most?
If these two types of people are arrested together and slowly investigated, something can always be found out. Even if it has nothing to do with this assassination case, finding the real culprit of the previous assassination case is also a good harvest.
There is no such thing as a peace of mind. The Russo-Prussian War has just ended, Alexander II is in a time of great power, do not come up with a satisfactory result, Alexandrovich can not give the country to explain.
……
The first thing that was affected by the assassination of Alexander II was the Prussian-German negotiations. The Berlin government was truly flustered, and its original position of not giving an inch on territory softened.
The main deal price that was now in dispute between the two sides was practically settled by this point.
London, Prussian-German negotiations made a breakthrough, the first obstacle blocking the establishment of North Germany was cleared, but Prime Minister Benjamin did not feel happy.
Things were going too smoothly, so smoothly that it was unreal.
Putting down the draft contract in his hands, Prime Minister Benjamin: “Sir Edward, did Austria not make a move?”
Foreign Minister Edward: “No, the Austrians made a move. It’s just that they were a little slow to react this time, and their intervention was very small.
Perhaps they thought they could rely on the German Federal Reichstag to veto the deal, and that’s why they didn’t rush into action.
Of course, the sudden assassination of Alexander II was also one of the reasons. According to the information coming from the embassy, the Vienna government is now concentrating most of its energies on the Russian Empire.”
These reasons were still somewhat untenable; no matter how much energy was concentrated, not all of it could be invested in the past, and a sliver of it dispersed could likewise make the Prussian-German negotiations more difficult.
Waiting for the Reichstag to veto it is too passive and unlike Austria’s style. Besides, the Reichstag can be avoided.
The North German Imperial Plan is also a step-by-step process, and the Prussian-German merger is the final step. It’s just beginning now, and it’s Hanover that’s negotiating with the Kingdom of Prussia right now, not the government of the German Federal Reich.
Under the unique system of the German Federal Empire, where state states had independent diplomatic powers, including the power to conclude treaties with other countries, deals between Hanover and Prussia did not require the approval of the Reichstag.
The first step was a territorial deal, the second was an alliance between Hanover and the Kingdom of Prussia, the third was the establishment of the United Kingdom by Prussia and Han, and the final step was the creation of the North German Empire.
In fact when Pughan merged, the Kingdom of Prussia had already entered the German Federal Empire, and the Reichstag didn’t even have the power to block it.
Having created an established fact, it was much less resistance to backtrack and force the Reichstag to agree.
In theory, something similar could be followed by Austria, in practice it was simply not possible.
In order to survive, the Kingdom of Prussia can put down its stature and not lose face, and establish a dualistic state with Hanover as the main focus, and jointly dominate the next North German Empire, but not in Austria’s case.
Franz also can not afford to lose this person, the Austrian people can not tolerate this kind of thing. A great power should be a great power, can not do everything.
Prime Minister Benjamin nodded, ”Let’s hope so! Let them speed up the negotiations and create established facts earlier, so as not to cause further complications.”
Doubtful as doubtful was, at this point in time, even if they knew that there was a pit in front of them, the London government had to jump in.
To retreat at this time would be to contribute to Austria’s unification of the German region.
The human heart is the most complicated thing. The London government was able to convince Prussia and Hanover that it was because people were not optimistic that Austria would be able to unify the German region.
If the British shrink back at this time, everyone’s mindset is going to change. Many people would think that the London government was afraid of Austria and did not dare to confront them directly.
Once this idea arises, everyone will have to reconsider the question of “whether Austria has the strength to unify the German region”.
The core of unification lies in the idea, if all the Germans believe that Austria has the strength to unify the German region, willing to join the unification of the big empire, then no one can stop.
In essence, the reason why the government of Vienna did not dare to take this step was that it feared that it would be besieged by the European countries before it had the chance to unify the German region.
Internal instability and the threat of an external enemy, no one can resist. What Napoleon had not accomplished, Franz did not think he could accomplish.
If everyone thought of unification, then let’s not talk about anything. European countries don’t even have the motivation to interfere, because it’s useless to interfere, they will still be united no matter how much they split up.
Now the British can step in to divide, the most crucial thing is that people do not think Austria has the strength to unify the German region, and even a lot of people think that unification is a dead end.
Even if there were more pro-Austrian factions in various countries, and they also knew the benefits of a great unification, still no one dared to take this step. It was against this background that North Germanism grew.
(End of chapter)