Chapter 184: War Loan

  Chapter 181 – War Loan

The Greeks were pulled over, Franz did not take it seriously at all. The protagonists of this Near Eastern War are the Russians, and Austria is just playing in the sauce, at most throwing a few stones to the Ottoman Empire that has fallen into the well.

Even if the two countries have declared war, in fact, both sides have a very large room for maneuver, Austria just occupied two of their dependencies and called it quits, the conflict is still within control.

The corrupt Sultan’s government was actually still very tolerant, but it was only after misjudging their own strength and Austria’s need for this war that the two sides came to this point.

To whack the Ottoman Empire or not, Franz was indifferent attitude. With the support of Britain and France, the Ottoman Empire will be able to keep the Asia Minor Peninsula.

As for the Greeks, frankly speaking Franz did not have any expectations for them.

Geographic location determines that they embrace the British thigh, is the best choice; Strength on the insufficient, and decided that the Ottomans only need a hand can be pressed them down.

If they were to join the alliance squarely to declare war on the Ottoman Empire, then the responsible Franz and Nicholas I would surely pull them up for the sake of political necessity.

Even if they lost on the battlefield, the post-war negotiations would not put them at a disadvantage.

Sneaking into the field, this can’t be considered an ally, winning the fight is good, Franz is a man of his word, the Austrian government will definitely support their demands, and the Russians will more than likely honor their promises as well.

If you lose, you’ll be crying on your own, it’s all done by the civil army, and has nothing to do with the Greek government, and even less to do with Austria and Russia. Franz remembers that historically the Greeks lost and got their asses kicked by the Ottomans.

In contrast to the Greeks, Montenegro, or Negros, another small Balkan country, had a much firmer stance.

Originally, Bishop Danilo wanted to be neutral. Montenegro, a small country with a population of less than 200,000, had just recovered after waging war against the Ottoman Empire three times, in 1821, 1829, and 1835, with a view to obtaining access to the sea in the south, which all ended in failure.

Bishop Danilo was a pacifist, and with Montenegro surrounded on all sides by the Ottoman Empire, he was afraid that it would roll over before he could wait for reinforcements.

Unfortunately, the pro-Russian people of Montenegro disagreed. Militancy is a common characteristic of all Balkan countries, and Montenegro is one of the best.

The Ottoman Empire has ruled the Balkans for hundreds of years, but still has not been able to conquer the Grand Duchy of Montenegro, and the Sultan’s government is getting impatient.

Not long ago, the Sultan’s Government made a proposal to the Government of Montenegro to grant the city of Shkodra, an outlet to the sea in the Adriatic Sea region and a part of Herzegovina to the Grand Duchy of Montenegro as long as they were willing to stop the hostility with the Ottoman Empire and to recognize the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire.

The hardened Montenegrin population decisively rejected this temptation, preferring to fight for these territories with bloodshed rather than submit to the Ottomans.

The power of hatred had penetrated into the very marrow of the Montenegrin people, and now that the opportunity had come for the Russians and Austria to declare war on the Ottoman Empire at the same time, how could they be absent?

It is important to realize that the pro-Russian Montenegrin population was to fight in the Crimean War.

Only Bishop Danilo saw the situation clearly. He thought that the Russians were too far away, and once the war broke out, it would be too dangerous for Montenegro to be left in isolation, so he chose neutrality.

For this reason, Bishop Danilo was almost overthrown.

Now there was no need to worry about isolation, they were not far from the Austrian province of Dalmatia, which made it impossible for Bishop Danilo to refuse.

In order to be able to get married, Bishop Danilo made a compromise. He agreed to support the war in exchange for the agreement that he would give up his position as bishop to someone else, so that he could be crowned “Archduke of Montenegro and Brda”.

The Grand Duchy of Montenegro, a traditional vassal of the Russians, was taken care of, and Russia communicated with Austria, who provided them with assistance.

Franz naturally will not refuse the Russians this little request, not just weapons and equipment and strategic supplies, as long as the money is willing to pay everything is negotiable.

At this time, the superiority of state-owned enterprises is reflected, the government an administrative order, the enterprise will start producing strategic materials in advance.

Taking into account the ability of the Grand Duchy of Montenegro to pay, Franz is also very thoughtful to provide a loan service to solve the customer’s immediate needs.

The provision of loan services is also a matter of no choice, not to mention the Principality of Montenegro, even the Russians have a very limited ability to pay.

Now that they hadn’t completed their internal reforms, there was no way to compare the wealth that a feudal dynasty could gather with a capitalist country.

The Tsarist government did not expect Britain and France to intervene, and now that the sea routes were impassable, the strategic materials hoarded on the Ukrainian coast could now only be transported by land. This obviously could not guarantee the needs of the frontline troops, and could only be procured from Austria close by.

The military expenses of laboring far away from the Balkans could be much higher than the historical fight in the Crimea. Due to the corruption of the tsarist government, even if the Austrian government did not inflate prices, prices have now gone up.

Franz couldn’t stop the Russian bureaucrats from getting rich, could he?

In the end, naturally, you are good, I am good, everyone is good, the only hurt is only the Russian central treasury, anyway, they have a big family can withstand, no money big deal loan.

The Austrian government is very happy to take this business, these loans are directed, can only buy Austrian goods, and do not need to take out real money. Anyway, loans to the Russians to pay, better than letting the Russians default on payment of goods.

Political loans are never pure, there are additional commercial trade conditions in, even if the Russian government can not pay back the loan, the Austrian government will not lose.

Austria has the strength to undertake this business only the central bank, or else move hundreds of millions of guilders of loans, even if the domestic several major commercial banks together can not come out.

With Franz’s order, the Austrian central bank opened the printing machine, in the shortest possible time to get together the first payment.

The Russians borrowed 100 million guilders, the Duchy of Montenegro borrowed 5 million guilders, and the Greeks’ request for a loan was rejected by Franz.

The reason is that Austria can not afford to give them material assistance, land does not border, expect to take the sea delivery, when the British do not exist ah?

Take real money out? This is obviously does not exist, the Austrian government is not the wrongdoer, as far as the Greek government’s finances, can you expect them to pay back the money?

Since the establishment of the Kingdom of Greece, their finances have been dependent on borrowing from their backers, and when have they ever paid off their debts?

After the borrowing with the Russians and the Duchy of Montenegro was completed, the money flowed back into the Austrian market and stimulated the Austrian economy.

Anyway, it was a time of war, and price increases were normal, so as long as they didn’t play too much, there wouldn’t be any major problems.

After the unification of South Germany, the monetary capacity of the market became larger and the problem of inflation was solved.

As long as there is no outflow of funds, it is normal to issue more money when the wealth created by the society increases, and it will not cause serious inflation.

As for the economic pain brought about by the return of the market to normal after the war, aren’t there still Russians paying off their debts? As long as there is an inflow of real money, all crises can be solved.

By the way, use this opportunity to make Austria and Russia’s economic ties a little closer, using this economic ties to consolidate the alliance between the two countries.

The French can influence the Tsarist government by controlling Russian finance, Austria does not have the strength to control Russian finance, but it is always possible to influence it, right?

Franz is very conscientious, to the allies of the loan interest rate of only 0.2% per month, there is absolutely no unequal conditions.

Just promote the economic exchanges between the allies, anyway, Britain and France have become enemies, Austria rob their market is not excessive, right?

At this time, Britain and France want to protest have no chance, from the moment the navy blocked the door, they are the tsarist government’s enemy.

(End of chapter)