Chapter 1188: The End of an Era
Chapter 1165 The End of an Era
Politics is so marvelous, the U.S. government is difficult to produce, and the international political pressure is suddenly gone.
As if pitying the United States of America’s misfortune, not only a variety of targeting means stopped, even the war reparations were allowed to defer payment.
The international situation has eased, which should be a cause for celebration, but the knowledgeable people in the United States have become worried.
The continued targeting by the Union would certainly cause the United States to lose a great deal of money, but the external pressure would also be able to motivate the American people to unite.
Originally also wanted to take the opportunity to divert public attention, reconcile the domestic dispute between the federal states on the amount of reparations, at least first complete the election, the central government, now all of a sudden turned into a dream.
Knowing that this is the enemy’s conspiracy, but involves their own practical interests, the federal states simply can not retreat.
War reparations are an astronomical sum, and every percentage point of concession will put a heavy economic burden on the state governments.
The extra money will eventually go to the people and businesses. Politicians have no sense of decency, but votes can’t be unwanted.
Everyone knows that if this stalemate continues, something big will eventually happen; unfortunately real money is involved and no one can come up with a solution that satisfies all parties.
Each federal state has its own leadership team; one day or two days without a central government is no problem; one month or two months without a central government is not a big problem; if there is no central government for one year or two years, it will be a big problem.
Not everyone wants to be in charge, and even though the presence of a central government in the United States is already very low, it can’t resist the ambitions of the ambitious.
When people get used to not having a government in Washington, then the government in Washington is really going to be cool.
In the end, the United States is just a country of immigrants that has been established for more than 100 years, and has little centripetal force, and comes together solely because of its interests.
Since it can be aggregated because of interests, it can also be separated because of interests.
It is conceivable that after this wave, even if the United States does not split up, it will be like the Union next door, from a federation to a confederation.
It may seem like just a word change, but in reality it is a fundamental change in nature.
The relationship between the states and the central government becomes a direct partnership, when happy we play together, when unhappy minutes to withdraw to you.
In the past few decades, the Union State has more than once appeared in the news of joining the state to make a withdrawal, and some states have even paid the actual action.
Of course, in this in and out of the back, there is no shortage of Washington government push.
Adhering to the principle of not killing you, but also to disgust you. Successive Washington administrations, all like to do things on this.
Regrettably people make a mess, there is the United States of America this danger on the side, the states of the federal state are afraid to give up the embrace. When it calms down, they end up being family again.
Originally, everyone just watched the joke, did not think that the wind and water rotate, and now it is their turn.
……
The Americas are not at peace, nor is Eastern Europe. After the tsarist government rejected the “goodwill” mediation of the Continental Union, the situation of the civil war has once again plunged.
The wave of independence was again brought to a climax by the increasing number of “volunteers” on the anti-Russian front.
The Finnish Independence Army (FIA), which had only been trying to defend itself, came out and set its sights on St. Petersburg, along with the Polish-Lithuanian insurgents.
As if that were not enough, the Bulgarians in the Balkans, after expelling the Russians, launched the Battle of Constantinople (Tsar’s Grad).
Not to be outdone, the Caucasus rebels are at this moment advancing along the Volga. It is impossible to determine the exact strategic objectives in the short term, and it looks like they are ready to fight wherever they can.
The Ukrainian independence movement has also reached its climax, and with the help of “volunteers”, the independence army is gradually gaining the upper hand on the battlefield.
The situation in Central Asia is still bad, and there is no sign of any improvement. Siberia has gained the upper hand, but this is meaningless.
……
It’s not that the Russians aren’t working hard, it’s just that the rebels are too aggressive. Airplanes and tanks have appeared on the battlefield, so that the lack of guns and ammunition of the government forces have suffered a lot.
Suppressing the rebellion?
No, this is clearly a war with the European world. The main culprit in all this is the international “mediation” that was rejected earlier.
It was too late for regrets. The Continental Union was holding the Russian army at the front, and the Tsar’s government had to let the peasants who had just laid down their hoes go to war.
Along with the development of the situation, more and more minorities in Russia participated in the national independence movement.
If we want to look deeper into the reason, it still came from an article “On the National Independence Movement”. The author of the article was not an ordinary person who was able to create such a great impact.
It was already half a year ago, in order to give the Russians a hard time, Franz published “On the National Independence Movement” in the Austrian daily newspaper.
The article clearly stated his position, viz:
“Independence should be granted to the dominant peoples (80%) who have their own civilization, a long traditional history and culture, have lived in a region for a long time (more than five hundred years), and have a strong desire for independence.”
There is no doubt that this is a typical case of having had enough of oneself and now starting to bash the pot. If it were 30 or 40 years ago, anyone who dared to say that would have been an unholy enemy ……
However, politics is so subtle. When one’s own ethnic problems are solved, it’s time to take them out and make things happen.
As a matter of fact, Franz has been very restrained, and has attached many preconditions to his support for the national independence movement.
The reason for this is naturally to avoid any misunderstanding. This is the era of colonial empires, and the first to bear the brunt of the rise of national independence movements are the major colonial empires.
Unlike the Shen Luo colony, which was sparsely populated and basically wouldn’t be affected, the other colonial empires were very different.
Especially just divided India’s gang of little brothers, who do not rule tens of millions of people ah, once the uproar that is very fatal.
Residence time, population ratio are not much trouble, the key lies in the “civilization” and “history and culture”.
There is no specific standard for this thing, it is completely the European world think that there is, think that there is not, there is not.
Even so, misunderstandings have arisen.
According to incomplete statistics, after the publication of Franz’s “On the National Independence Movement”, the outbreak of national independence movements around the world directly doubled in the second half of 1905.
The greatest impact was naturally on Russia, and it was clearly aimed at them. People of all nationalities who wanted independence naturally would not let go of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
In addition to this political signal, there was another political event that attracted a lot of attention, and that was the expiration of the Russian-Austrian Alliance at the end of the year.
Judging from the current situation, the possibility of the two countries renewing their contract is infinitely close to zero. Once the Russo-Austrian Alliance comes to an end, the international situation that the Tsarist government will have to face will become even more sinister.
……
1905 was destined to be an extraordinary year, with a storm of great events that lasted from the beginning of the year to the end.
At Franz’s gesture, on November 7, 1905, the Reichstag passed the proposal to elevate the Austrian Central American colonies to the Principality of Latin America, the Austrian South Seas to the Principality of the South Seas, and the Austrian North American colonies to the Principality of the Maple Leafs.
The meal had to be eaten one bite at a time, and in order to give everyone a period of adjustment, Franz himself became king on a part-time basis.
This proved to be very effective. The original naysayers about the three major states quickly faded away.
To many of the naysayers, the fact that the emperor himself doubled as king was a sign of concession. Just look at Franz’s title, it was the existence of the pitiless scum.
With all those titles, the Holy Roman Empire was still the Holy Roman Empire, and it didn’t change the mode of rule just because of one title of the Emperor.
Around the same time, it was just a name, completely guilty of not going against the emperor for such a small matter. After all, people were only against the establishment of states, not against the Emperor.
……
Vienna Palace, Franz looked at the drafted abdication edict in his hands, and after making sure that there were no problems, he slowly said, “Issue it!”
“Father ……”
Without waiting for Frederick to finish his words, Franz interrupted, “Well, there’s no need to say more. Since I have decided to abdicate after Christmas, I will not change it.
Don’t worry, just tell the outside world that I am not well and need to recuperate. I’m seventy to eighty years old, who can say I’m faking?
From now on, you should learn to adapt to the life of a monarch. Any problems you encounter in the future will need to be faced by you.
The throne is both an honor and a responsibility. You’ve seen a lot over the years, but that’s not enough, the world of a monarch is far more brutal.
As the rising lord of the Habsburg dynasty, the outside world has elevated my position too high, and even if I really did something wrong, there will be people who will spontaneously brainstorm a bunch of reasons.
Especially in the last decade or so, it’s all pretty much been deified. Just take a look at the council, in the last few years but any proposal that I authorized would be passed unanimously.
The reason the proposal passes is not because of the content of the proposal, but because the person pushing it is me, Joseph Franz.
This is very frightening, and if it goes on like this, I am afraid I am going to lose myself in it and really think that I am omnipotent.
It is important for people to be self-aware, we are all ordinary members of the multitude. It’s just that we stand higher, see more broadly, at most a little smarter than the average person, in essence, or ordinary people.
Now, I am in a hurry to retire, whether it is for the country, for the family, or for me personally is the best choice.
But you will be miserable, with a father like me, in the years to come will not be able to avoid being compared to the nitpicking. This requires you to keep a normal heart and deal with it all rationally.”
Too much prestige was sometimes a trouble. In case the heir’s mind was not strong enough, it was very easy to fall into the gutter.
But in this regard, Franz felt that there was not much of a problem. Frederick was not too young, his mind had matured a long time ago, not to mention the fact that he had himself watching his back.
As a party, Franz now understands why ancient emperors, who were wise and powerful in their youth, made a lot of mistakes in their later years.
Every day living in bragging, the lies heard more and more, also become the truth. Than these predecessors, Franz now had a choice.
In order to be able to successfully retire, Franz even “use bad health” as an excuse.
Combined with his age, this explanation is very convincing. The Emperor had worked so hard for his country that he had to abdicate early because of his illness.
No matter whether other people believe it or not, Franz himself believed it.
With the big event of the Emperor’s abdication in front of him to attract attention, passing the throne of the three major states to the other three younger sons was not worth mentioning.
People who are old enough can understand that they love their sons. It is also in line with the tradition of the European world that the eldest son inherits the main business and gives the other sons a share of the estate to build up their lives.
It was just a colony, and anyway, it was a “poor country”, so everyone could still accept it.
Even if there are people who want to oppose, there is no way to speak up at this time, who let the emperor is “sick”?
In case this time to make a fuss, affect the emperor’s “recuperation”, accidentally let the emperor to see God, that would be a great joy.
With Franz’s influence, the Holy Roman Empire would never have a place for them. Such a horrible consequence is enough to make any political figure shy away.
In order to successfully complete the state plan, Franz is also desperate, even to use himself.
(End of chapter)