Chapter 113: War Reparations
Chapter 113 – War Reparations
Vienna International Hotel
Palmerston fought, “Mr. Metternich, your asking price is too high, it’s more than the Sardinian Kingdom can afford!”
Metternich said unhurriedly, “Mr. Palmerston, we can count a battle, this Austro-Sardinian war, Austria spent 100 million guilders on war expenses, and also paid 12,000 officers and soldiers casualties, even if no one pays 1,000 guilders in pensions, that’s still 12 million guilders.
Civilian deaths were as high as 586,000, nobles died 26,000, knighthood up to marquis, and millions were left homeless.
According to the calculation of 500 guilders casualty pension for each civilian and 3,000 guilders pension for each noble, the total is 371 million guilders, and the homeless people are not counted a little bit, but at least 150 million guilders resettlement fee, right?
Nearly half of the cities in Lombardy and Venice were destroyed in the war, the local economy completely collapsed, and the cost of post-war reconstruction would not be less than 300 million guilders.
The Sardinian army had also plundered a great deal of wealth from the people, at least 180 million guilders, which must also be returned.
……”
According to the Austrian’s algorithm, the Kingdom of Sardinia is estimated to not be able to pay it back by the next century, and without waiting for Metternich to finish, Palmerston spoke up:
“Mr. Metternich, the account cannot be calculated like this. So many casualties and economic losses, most of them are caused by the revolutionaries, the losses caused by the Sardinian army to your country is only a small part of it.”
That’s right, these losses are the result of the rebels, the Austrian army, the Sardinian army, all of them working together, only the losses are to be borne by the Kingdom of Sardinia.
Metternich said without changing his face, “Mr. Palmerston, we have enough evidence to show that the rebellions that took place in the Lombardy and Venice regions were all orchestrated by the Sardinian government.
The losses caused by the rebels naturally need to be borne by the Sardinian Kingdom as well. We are only asking for 1.66 billion guilders in compensation, which is actually very little.”
Palmerston naturally didn’t buy it, and item by item, he grinded down with Metternich.
For example, civilian casualties: it wasn’t like the Sardinian army had engaged in a massacre, so how could they have taken out so many civilians in such a short period of time?
Natural disasters, man-made disasters, natural deaths of these credited to the head of the Sardinian government, barely passable, at least can be related to a little.
But the war caused an exodus of population, this people are still alive, we have to compensate according to the death of the population, is not it too much bullshit?
What rebel members casualties also need to compensate the pension? Isn’t that bullshit? They’re all sinners, and the Austrian government needs to pay pensions to their families?
No, this has to be discounted.
Another example: the Sardinian army is plundering the land, they’re all in POW camps, and their possessions are your spoils of war, okay? At most, you’d have to pay for wear and tear, but not that much.
……
After half a month of negotiation, Palmerston and Metternich finally reached an agreement, Sardinia paid Austria 338 million guilders in war reparations, and 0.62 billion guilders in ransom for prisoners, ending the war. (about 93.52 million taels of silver)
This was already the limit, the Kingdom of Sardinia had not yet gone through Cavour’s reforms, and now their financial income was converted to just over 10 million taels of silver.
In the face of this huge amount of indemnity, they certainly could not come up with it. The existence of the Franco-Austrian pact cut off the possibility of turning to the French financial world for help, and they had no other choice but to borrow from the British.
With John Bull’s shitty nature, how could they not take advantage of the fire at this time?
It can be said that after this huge debt is borrowed, the future politics and economy of Sardinia Kingdom must be fully dependent on the British.
As for the opinion of the Sardinian government in exile is no longer important, they have lost the right to speak, only to accept the arrangement of fate.
If they don’t listen, they can just change another government. The British spent a big price to keep them, because they hope to support an obedient pawn in the Italian region, and enhance the power of speech in the Italian region.
Of course, another reason was that the British banking consortium was saddled with the loan. The Sardinian government still owed the British a debt, and if they didn’t find a way to bail them out, those loans, all of them, would have gone down the drain.
This huge payout was not so much the limit of what the Kingdom of Sardinia could afford as it was the limit of what the British were willing to continue to invest.
……
On July 7, 1848, the Austrian ambassador in London and the Sardinian government in exile in England signed an armistice treaty, the content of which was a heck of a replica of this Anglo-Austrian Vienna secret talks, just in a different guise.
A consortium of British banks provided a loan to the Sardinian government, paying the Austrian war reparations of 200 million guilders in one lump sum, with the rest to be paid over twenty years at an annual interest rate of 5%.
……
The decision to take the money and not the land was made by Franz, and if France, the piggyback, didn’t go wrong, then everyone would join forces to divide up the Kingdom of Sardinia, and Austria would have access to the rich regions of Genoa and Turin, which would indeed be worth the effort.
But now that the French are left to fend for themselves, Austria will have to go it alone. Unfortunately, Austria’s appetite was not good enough to swallow the Kingdom of Sardinia in one bite.
If the Kingdom of Sardinia could not be destroyed and only part of their territory was occupied, then for a long time it would have to face the threat of national uprisings, and it would be difficult to transform these regions into national power.
Moreover, there were already enough Italian nationalities in Austria, and Franz did not want to continue to increase them, which was not conducive to his policy of national integration.
Austria made concessions on the issue of the Kingdom of Sardinia and was naturally compensated.
For example, the British would support Austria’s expansion in the Balkans, and acquiesce in Austria’s joining the overseas colonial expansion.
Compared to the Italian region where the situation was complicated, after obtaining the support of the British, Austria’s expansion in the Balkans only required communication with the Russians.
Overseas colonial expansion is even simpler, as long as the direction in which Austria opens up colonies does not conflict with the core interests of Britain and France, the rest is a minor issue.
It must be said that Palmerston’s judgment was accurate, and Austria’s strategic center of gravity has long been out of the Italian region.
What dominates now is that the Germanist faction, headed by Prime Minister Felix, favors the expansion of power in the German region.
This was followed closely by the Near Eastern faction headed by the Minister of War, Prince Wendischgreutz, who favored expansion into the Balkans.
As well as the Colonialists, led by Archduke Louis, who advocated the opening of overseas colonies.
The butterfly effect is huge. At this time in history, the Austrian government was busy suppressing rebellions, and there were definitely not so many people who wanted to expand abroad.
Behind all of these strategies there was one, or more than one, interest group pushing. On the surface, everyone’s reasons are sound, and in practice, they all have a series of problems.
Franz did not rush to take a position, politics often can not only consider the right and wrong, but also to look at the interest groups involved, and the possible changes that may be triggered.
……
Palmerston’s trip was not only for the Italian issue, but also to mediate the Potsdam War, in which Austria also had a heavy say.
“Mr. Metternich, I think it is necessary for our two countries to have more in-depth communication on the issue of the Pudan War.
The unauthorized provocation of war by the Kingdom of Prussia is something that should be condemned by the international community, and as a peace-loving country, it is necessary for us to take more active measures.” Palmerston said
“Of course, Mr. Palmerston. The Austrian government has long made its position clear:
The duchies of Schleswig and Holstein are traditional German states, and Austria would like to see them back in the Federation.
However, they must come back as independent states, not become part of the Kingdom of Prussia.” Metternich replied tentatively
Palmerston said seriously, “Mr. Metternich, the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein already belong to the Kingdom of Denmark, and that is a matter of history.
The German region is just a place name, not a country. The German Confederation is also just an alliance, there is no such thing as sovereignty!”
There is no doubt that the British are against the unification of the German region. Once a large unified empire emerged in the Central European continent, then the hegemony of the British Empire would have to take another hit.
Palmerston directly stated his position in order to cut off the illusion that Austria might have existed to unify the German region.
Metternich was against the establishment of a Greater Germany, he thought that the unification of the German region was impossible to do, and after testing out the attitude of the British, he naturally would not have any overreaction.
“Mr. Palmerston, the question is not what we think of it, but what the Prussians have led civil opinion to, and now the Austrian government is kidnapped by public opinion.
Having just experienced a domestic rebellion, we have to take into account the feelings of the civil society, and we have to support the Prussians diplomatically in this war.”
Metternich bit the word diplomacy very hard, and Palmerston naturally heard the implication that Austria did not want Prussia to continue to grow stronger, and that its support for them would be limited to diplomacy and would not take practical action.
This reply did not satisfy him, but it was not unacceptable either; it was nothing more than that in this Prussian-Danish war Austria was ready to play the sauce.
Seeking the participation of the Austrian government in the joint pressure on Prussia failed, Palmerston did not continue to stay in Vienna, and went straight to Berlin.
(End of chapter)