Chapter 1040: The First Sino-Japanese War
Chapter 1020 The First Sino-Japanese War
In the blink of an eye, 1894 came to an end again. The Vienna government, which had been in deficit for a long time, finally got rid of its financial deficit in this year.
Embarrassingly, let the Vienna government to get rid of the main reason for the fiscal deficit: not economic development tax increase, but is the overissuance of money.
With the joint endorsement of the European Union, the Vienna government overissued 1.2 billion guilders, which is now slowly flowing into the market.
Although the money is to be shared with everyone, the Vienna government is still the one who gets the lion’s share. Preliminary estimates, after deducting the printing costs and profit sharing, the mint tax revenue belonging to the Vienna government is still as high as 780 million.
Than normal season, a year’s revenue are more. If you still can not turn a loss into a profit, then it is really not true.
The alliance endorsement had only stabilized the value of the divine shield, but the bad effects of currency overissuance still existed.
According to the Vienna government’s statistics, the domestic inflation rate would be as high as 3 points this year. This was still the result of the overissued currency not all flowing out, otherwise the inflation would have been even worse.
If put aside in the later credit standard era, 3 points of inflation is not a matter of fact, seven or eight points of inflation occur from time to time.
Inflation is happening all over the world, and it would be news if there was no inflation. There are even more than double-digit countries that have maintained double-digit inflation rates for years.
But not now, inflation was minimal during the gold standard era. Except for a wave of inflation in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries when there was a huge influx of gold and silver, there has been very little major inflation since we entered the industrial age.
An inflation rate of 3 points already makes the Vienna government nervous, for fear of causing a market crash.
For the country’s economy, inflation raises the cost of industrial production, obviously not conducive to the export of industrial products.
If it wasn’t for the fact that the Vienna government had lent out a large sum of divine guilders and had been limited to the amount of money spent in Shinra, it would have backfired on the export industries by now.
Pros and cons are born of each other, and after taking such a big risk, there is naturally a corresponding gain.
With this additional income, the Vienna government not only made up for the financial deficit, but also opened the ring line railroad plan, by the way, also paid off part of the government debt.
Most importantly, it suppressed the wave of revolution, curbed the expansion of the economic crisis, stabilized the situation in Europe, and stabilized the hegemony of the continent.
Just look at this year’s statements. At the beginning of the year, the economic crisis broke out, and there was the biggest economic downturn since Franz succeeded the throne.
In the first quarter, pulling back the curtain on the economic crisis, GDP fell 8.7% compared to the same period last year;
In the second quarter, the economic situation deteriorated further, with GDP down 12.8% from the same period last year;
In the third quarter, the measures taken by the government began to work and the economy showed some improvement, but GDP still fell 10.8% compared to the same period last year;
In the fourth quarter, the European countries agreed to jointly launch a “watering down” rescue plan, but GDP still fell by 5.1 per cent compared with the same period last year.
In 1894, the economy of Shinra declined by 8.93%. At last, it did not exceed 10 points, and the decline was controlled in single digits.
Unfortunately, the actual situation was even worse than that. The above figures dilute the percentage of decline by including the already indigenized African territories in the calculation.
If it weren’t for the fact that the noble lords in the African region were playing hard to get, maintaining a high rate of economic growth and pulling up the economic data, the economic data of Shen Luo in 1894 would have been absolutely 10,000 points more touching.
In the European part of the country alone, the GDP growth rate was decidedly double-digit, but unfortunately it was negative. The specific figure was -13.7%, which is simply appalling.
There is no way around it, this is the aftermath of the war. If governments don’t respond in a timely manner, this figure may even double straight away.
Shen Luo, who had a large family, was now in such a miserable state, and other countries were naturally no better.
The defeated France was needless to say, the aftermath of the war was still lingering. If compared to before the war, it was waist-deep and then waist-deep again, followed by a 20% discount.
Instead of paying off the debt, it was good enough to wipe out the government’s daily expenses. So much so that from the time Carlos came to power, he has been fighting corruption until now.
According to the Viennese government’s estimates, Armenia suffered the least from the economic crisis of 1894, maintaining a positive growth rate, even though the agrarian country’s economy grew at a snail’s pace.
Even Montenegro, which is also an agricultural country, did not manage to escape. Although it did not follow the outbreak of the economic crisis, its own economy was too heavily affected by the Shiraz.
Shen Luo economic downturn, Montenegro’s import and export trade is also greatly affected, because exports account for a small proportion of the economy is only a small decline, the preliminary estimate of the decline will not be more than 1 percentage point.
Next is the Nordic Federation, the Netherlands, made a war fortune, coupled with their own family background is not weak, by the economic crisis is far from the impact of other countries heavy.
However, the two economies and Europe are too closely linked, the outbreak of a serious economic crisis in Europe, they can only follow the crisis.
Affected by the economic crisis, the GDP decline even if not 10 points, eight or nine points or less. And Shen Luo whitewashed data, looks about the same.
Then there was the Russian Empire. There is no doubt that the Russians were dragged down by Shinra.
The economies of the two countries were too closely linked, and when Shinra broke out in an economic crisis, the Russians’ industrial raw materials stagnated along with it. Stock market crashes, layoffs, and bankruptcies were equally rare.
If these were the only things, it would only be considered a hairy economic pain, but unfortunately, revolutions broke out in Poland and Bulgaria, and the partisans in Central Asia followed suit.
If the Tsarist government had taken the right economic measures in time, perhaps the situation would not have been so serious, but unfortunately they did nothing.
All the factors added up, and in the end the Russians delivered a slightly better answer than the Shinra domestic, a decline of seven or eight points was inevitable.
Of course, these were only the estimates of the Vienna government; the Tsarist government itself didn’t keep statistics, and it was even harder for outsiders to figure it out.
In addition to these less damaged, the rest have a count, the economy fell growth are negative double digits.
Even Britannia, with its large family, was not able to make an exception. As a financial empire, the banking and finance industry occupies a significant portion of the national economy.
Because the crisis was artificially delayed, it led to a market bubble that became further inflated. One of the most inflated was the stock market, so after the economic crisis broke out, Shen Luo and Britannia directly became rotten brothers and sisters.
A post-war industrial imbalance + stock market bubble, triggering a national economic crisis; a mega-sized stock market bubble, involving the financial sector followed by the outbreak of the crisis, before finally evolving into an economic crisis.
How big the specific loss is, Franz can not be sure, but a dozen points must be there. Otherwise, I am sorry, “the biggest economic crisis in the history of mankind” title.
Compared with the terrible economic crisis, a small inflation is nothing. But as the economic situation improves, this kind of inflation is a bit of an eyesore.
Don’t look at the moment is the European countries and God Luo together to bear the loss, short-term impact is not big, but God Luo is still into the super country.
As overseas trade continued, the loans that were released would still keep flowing back into the Shen Luo Empire. If no countermeasures are taken, in the next few years, Shen Luo will be accompanied by inflation.
Against this backdrop, once the economic crisis was over, there were only two ways for the Vienna government to go: either lend money out again; or adopt a tight monetary policy.
After experiencing the wave personally, Franz suddenly understood somewhat why the Americans had to spread money wildly to the outside world after the two world wars.
There was a serious overcapitalization, and if they didn’t spread the money out, there would be inflation at home.
Similar troubles seem to have plagued the British for many years. It’s just that Franz didn’t expect that it would be his turn so soon.
In a sense, Franz was able to re-unify the Shinra Empire and also benefited from the British’s overcapitalization.
If it wasn’t for the British having money with no place to spend it, Austria wouldn’t have been able to complete its industrialization in a short period of time. Including the construction of infrastructure, British capital had also contributed heavily.
Of course, British capital didn’t lose out. Except for a few times when they were engineered by Franz and accidentally jumped into a pit, they made a big profit all the other times.
The only one who lost money was probably the British government. The capitalists invested and lent heavily overseas for the sake of profit, and as a result created a competitor out of themselves.
History seems to go back to the original point, the original time and space of the United States of America’s rapid development, but also thanks to the British capital to do contributions.
Not only that, it seems that the rise of Prussia, the British capital also contributed greatly. Without them, where would the poor Berlin government get the money to do anything?
If you look at it from this aspect, the bankers in London were the gravediggers of the British Empire.
Without their help, the rivals certainly wouldn’t have grown as fast as they did. Britain might have lost its hegemony all the same, but it certainly wouldn’t have declined as fast.
“Never forget what has gone before,” and with such a dismal example in mind, Franz couldn’t even think of being imprudent.
……
One thing leads to another.
Just as Franz was thinking about the future, the Japanese, who had just hit their head on the bag in the Philippine Islands and were forced to evacuate, were up to something again.
Taking advantage of their neighbor’s snooze, they brazenly launched a sneak attack, directly crippling the Beiyang Naval Division. Immediately afterward, the Japanese launched a landing operation with lightning speed.
Sensei’s Far Eastern Empire now woke up from its daze or not, the enemy had already hit the door. Although the Japanese army was still on the Korean Peninsula, war had already broken out.
And that’s not all, the Far East was plunged into war, and the Americas were thrown into turmoil.
The backhandedness unleashed by the British had finally begun to take effect, setting off an independence movement in Cuba.
Spain, which had just finished the Philippine War and had not yet had time to catch its breath, was also forced into a new war.
It was so close to being rushed together. I wonder if the Japanese government, which had just given up on the Philippine Islands, was chagrined at the moment that it would have been better to hold on just a little longer.
Of course, what the Japanese government thinks doesn’t matter anymore. A new war was waiting for them. Besides, even if they wanted to turn back, the international situation would not allow it!
The scene of the European Union pushing together was just too scary. The Japanese government would never want to experience the same scene again.
No one knows whether the Japanese government regrets it or not, but the Spanish government definitely wants to cry now. The outbreak of the independence movement in Cuba at this time directly hit their soft underbelly.
The Philippine War had just ended, and it was the time when the Spanish government was at its poorest. The Spanish government had not even finished raising the money to rebuild the colonial government, and there was a problem with another important source of wealth.
The former Sunset Empire was already in decline. Although the Philippines and Cuba were not the only Spanish colonies, they were the richest colonies in their hands.
Losing either of them would be a blow to Spain. Not only economically, but also politically.
Having just been humiliated by the Japanese in the South Seas, it was the time when the nationalists at home were at their most vigorous.
Had it not been for the power of the Continental Union, which succeeded in taking back the Philippine Islands and pacifying the domestic population with its victory, the days of peace would have been long gone.
At this point in time, the Kingdom of Spain could not afford any failure. Any failure would have shattered their shaky position as a great power and even triggered a revolution.
(End of chapter)