Chapter 146: Headache Strategy
Chapter 144 Headache Strategy
The difficulties in Franz’s eyes were not problems in the eyes of the people of this era.
Analyzed in terms of construction cost, the maximum difference between these four sets of standards was only 1.2%, meaning that the construction cost of the railroad was not the main factor influencing the decision.
Thinking about it, the railroad gauge in this era is generally larger, the Russians’ first railroad gauge is still 1829mm, then the bureaucrats in order to make money, before listening to the advice of American engineers to change to 1524mm.
How much was saved by shrinking from six feet to five feet?
A 3% saving on the budget, but of course with the way the Tsarist bureaucrats were, it certainly didn’t end up saving much money.
The standard gauge was marketed to the world by the British, and from 1846 John Bull introduced the law, and from this time on the 1435mm system, became the standard gauge for the British mainland and colonies.
However, soon India became the exception, the standard gauge can not meet their transportation requirements, the British are pragmatic not work on enlargement, so most of the railroads in India are 1676mm standard, the other messy gauge railroads are naturally many.
After nearly a hundred years of British efforts, to the mid-20th century 1435mm system to become the international standard gauge, the initial bull’s eye is to promote the British technology system.
Whether there was a purpose to limit the freight capacity of continental countries, this is unknown, anyway, Franz does not believe that John Bull will be so kind.
With the technology of the mid-19th century, wide-gauge railroad freight capacity is more than narrow-gauge railroad, and safety and speed are much higher, which is completely different from the 21st century.
Later generations relied on technology to solve the stability of the train, narrow gauge railroad freight capacity and speed were raised up, which could not be done in this era.
Railroad maintenance costs, in fact, are about the same. Railroads are built after the construction of the exact same, the difference is only the length of sleepers, narrow-gauge railroad maintenance is simple to say, is unfounded.
The question of floor space, that’s complete bullshit, who does not leave isolation zones on both sides of the railroad, do you want to use the land under the train?
…… (no more bullshit, it’s becoming science fiction)
“Your Majesty, since we want to unify the standards, it might be better to let the Holy Roman Alliance come together to unify the standards, and it might be better to gather everyone together and set a common standard.” Metternich proposed
“Is there time to do so, our railroad is already under construction?” Prime Minister Felix asked with concern
“No problem, the construction of the railroad has just begun, a decision within a year won’t even affect the construction.” Railroad Minister Stein replied
The railroad construction in this era is really slow, it is only now that the demolition has begun, and when it is finished, the digging should be dug, and the filling should be filled, and without a year or two of work it will not reach the roadbed construction.
“Then pull everyone together to get it done, the Ministry of Railways is responsible for selecting an optimal program as our opinion, and try to convince everyone to implement it together.
If there’s a dispute, we’ll bring out the sets of standards and let everyone vote on them, and they’ll all be suitable for Austria anyway.” Franz said indifferently
“Then let’s go with 1676mm, this standard already meets our needs, and security is guaranteed.” Stein gave a quick answer
As for the international standard for railroads, is there such a thing in this day and age? Who recognizes it?
You know that when the British were building the western railroad, because of the technology they found that their standard system could not guarantee safety, they all switched to broad gauge, and only pushed back and rebuilt when the technology was up to par at the end of the 19th century.
Once the Holy Roman Alliance established a new standard, then the future of international railroad gauge standards may become two sets.
Other than that, the South German state railroad standards unified, Prussia follow or not follow?
If not, the two sides will be cut off economically; if they do, the standard system will be unified in Central and Southern Europe, and the impact will be huge.
As an emperor, many things had to be considered politico-military. Now, for example, let Austria-Hungary and Mao unify the railroad standard, Franz will immediately wimp.
The reason is known without saying, any country that is a neighbor to the Mao Bear must be careful. That even if we are all allies, the defense should still be guarded.
This period, the major European powers actually have a few external appearance, Austria is no exception, social reform has just begun, has not yet had time to translate into national strength.
The British also have not reached the peak of their national strength, India has not been completely eaten by them, Australia and New Zealand are still indigenous forces, South Africa has only established a number of strongholds in the coastal areas, the colonization of Southeast Asia is underway, Egypt is still dominated by the French, and the great colonial empire has not yet completed the jigsaw puzzle.
The French are busy with internal struggles, and the Russians have internal conflicts that are just being suppressed, just waiting to be set off by external forces.
The Kingdom of Prussia still had to rely on foreign wars to divert social conflicts, internal reforms had just begun, and on the surface the military power was good, but the domestic economy was not strong.
Spain continues to decline, social reform has not yet started; far away on the other side of the ocean, the United States, this era is still just an agricultural country with a population of just over 20 million people, the main economic income is the export of cotton, the North-South conflict has appeared spearheads.
Thinking about it, Franz suddenly surfaced a thought, want to find an opportunity to get South Africa?
South Africa is so big, the British only in the coastal establishment of colonial rule, the interior is still no land, in addition to the Cape of Good Hope, other areas of the British did not pay attention at all.
Now the British are very busy, and can not yet care about more areas in Africa, there are so many entry points, if you join in now, maybe you can also share a piece of meat.
If you can’t do it, you can start from Namibia and then occupy Botswana, and play a ball; or you can start from Tanzania, occupy Zambia and Zimbabwe, and kill the hinterland of South Africa from the hinterland.
Theoretically, they are quite good, but in practice, they do not seem to be very reliable. The African continent in this era is not lovely at all, with a bunch of diseases, poisonous insects and beasts, so if you want to colonize this place, you have to be prepared to bear a super-high mortality rate.
Theoretically it is not very high, as long as a little bit of care, the death rate control within ten percent, probably no problem.
That’s fine to say, but if you really implement it, you’ll realize that people aren’t really that brave, and who would want to take a risk when they’re alive and well?
There are benefits to stimulate the exception, for example, South Africa’s gold mines have been discovered, then all of a sudden everyone becomes brave, disease, poisonous insects, beasts are nothing.
Regrettably, when the gold is discovered, it will not be Austria’s turn. Unless it is occupied in advance and then joins forces with the Boers, it simply cannot be robbed by the British.
Sanity to sanity, once this thought came out, Franz could not wave it away.
Anyway, it is still a long time until the discovery of gold in South Africa, the big deal is to support the African colonialists in the country and let them go over to establish a stronghold first.
When the Anglo-Boer war broke out, Austria probably has been rising, by then, whether it is to support the Boers to John Bull to add to the chaos, or to participate in the division of a share, all need to be based on a foothold.
The timing of the attack must be well chosen, preferably when the British are not able to take care of themselves, suddenly launched to cause the established facts.
This era of international law, the rule of law, unclaimed land, who first occupied even if it is who, the prerequisite is to be able to keep.
Time is still early, there is no need to rush into action. Franz is not a person who acts blindly, now it seems to be better to promote the construction of the Suez Canal.
Austria does not have the ability to monopolize the canal, but it is still possible to agitate for an international co-management of the canal.
Historically, when the Suez Canal was opened, the British government was fully opposed to it, believing that the canal would threaten their maritime supremacy.
The British public thought the canal was impassable to large ships, and the canal company’s stock was virtually unappreciated in Britain.
On the contrary, it was sold well in France, the canal company also appeared in the middle of the lack of funds to stop the construction, almost into a bad project, and finally in the Rothschild family under the maneuvering before the successful completion of the project.
Historically, the canal has been open to navigation in 1869, so long time, the Austrian navy is almost a little bit of weight.
Other dare not guarantee, become a shareholder of the canal or can do.
Historically, France could not bear the pressure of the British, and financial problems before being forced to give up, if it becomes a joint French-Austrian domination of the Suez Canal, then the result will be different.
How to operate, Franz headache. The relationship between the powers is very complicated, everyone is both cooperation, but also in each other stabbing knife.
Today they join forces here, tomorrow they will fight again in a different place.
If you want to minimize conflicts, unless you want to think of the Russian-Austrian pact, we all take what we need, and agree on the sphere of influence clearly in advance.
Just imagine that it is not possible, Austria can make concessions to Russia, that is everyone’s core strategy does not conflict.
Franz also knew that as soon as the Russians’ strategy kicked in, they were going to be besieged by the British, French and Ottomans, and that the Maohuasca’s national power couldn’t support such a prolonged war of attrition, and that defeat was inevitable.
Unless Britain and France took the initiative to invade Russia, Austria would be influenced by the alliance to be pulled into the war. Only open the map to know, unless it is Russia dominated kill out, or Britain and France want to attack Russia are difficult.
Obviously this kind of thing can’t come a second time, Austria can only choose a big country to be an ally, swaying left and right two-fifths can easily be slapped to death.
(End of chapter)