Chapter 223: Each has his own plans
Chapter 218 – Each has his own plans
St. Petersburg
The Tsarist government was in a difficult situation, Austria was expanding too fast and had to find a way to curb it.
But the Russian-Austrian alliance can not be ruptured, Austria is the tsarist government in the European continent the only weight of the ally, absolutely can not be lost.
Now Austria did not expand beyond the scope of the treaty, they could not even find an excuse to interfere.
This has nothing to do with credibility, as long as the interests are appropriate, the tsarist government does not care to sell teammates.
Obviously, the interests now were not enough for the Tsar to sell his teammates. Even if Britain and France gave up the Ottoman Empire, the Tsarist government would not be able to tear up the Russo-Austrian pact.
The reason was very simple: the Near East War had awakened the Tsarist government to the fact that they were not as strong as they had expected. Since they were not strong enough, they needed allies.
Throughout the world, there are only a handful of countries that are qualified to be Russia’s ally, and Austria, a traditional ally, is the most reliable one.
Spain’s internal instability, Isabel II is still busy with internal strife, unable to intervene in the affairs of the European continent. Nicholas I would not have wanted such an ally even if he had sent it to him.
Britain and France these two guys are strength, but everyone is at war? A clear enemy, not to be questioned, how can it become an ally?
Then look at the remaining Prussian kingdom this quasi-powers, put aside the previous contradictions between the two sides, and Prussian kingdom alliance Russians are obviously to lose.
When in need of help, the Prussians could do nothing; in turn, they had to support Prussia from time to time.
Looking for allies because of common interests, unable to do what each needs, the alliance can not be talked about, which is also the reason for the collapse of the three court system in Northern Europe.
Foreign Minister Karl Worcel said worriedly, “Your Majesty, the call for unification in the German region is very high, and Bavaria’s nationalism is not the most fervent, they all supported the Austrian initiated war of unification with practical actions.
The other states are not expected to be much better, except for the Prussian kingdoms, all the other states are likely to be seduced by the Austrians by political means.
The Prussians were now too intimidated to intervene in the war. The war of German unification, which we had expected, was now turned into an Austrian armed parade.
If we don’t intervene, Britain and France are afraid that they won’t be able to stop Austria’s next move.”
Allies need to be wary too, ah, Austria is growing too fast and it’s not a good thing for the Russians.
Minister of Finance Aristotelian Rhodes objected, “This war of German unification, we can not directly intervene. The Russo-Austrian secret pact, which has already delineated the spheres of influence of the two countries, cannot be breached by us until Austria goes beyond the pre-agreed boundaries.
The enemies of the Russian Empire are Britain, France and the Ottomans. To intervene in this war would only be a waste of time for our enemies. Without Austria’s support, we will soon be unable to fight this Near Eastern War.
The Austrian threat is only a possible one, and that is still based on their unification of the German region. Right now the chances of them unifying the German region remain slim, at least the Kingdom of Prussia has not succumbed yet.
Moreover, this threat is not just against us, it is the French who should be most worried now, and it is Austria’s unification of the German region that poses the greatest threat to them.”
Geopolitics, determines the strategic threat to each country. The British Isles are isolated from the European continent, and the threat from the British can only come from the sea; after the unification of the German region, the first to bear the brunt is the French, followed by Russia.
“No, Mr. Aristotelius Rhodes you are mistaken. Interfering in this war and abiding by the covenant do not contradict each other; as long as we support the Austrians to get the pre-agreed territory, it is not a breach of the covenant.
In this matter, we can let Britain and France be the villain, there is no need for us to directly clash with Austria.” Karl Worcel explained
Aristotelian Rhodes asked uncertainly, “You mean splitting up the German region and completely cutting off the German region’s path to unification?”
Karl Worcel replied affirmatively, “That’s right, it has already been proven that after the awakening of nationalism, reunification of the German region will happen sooner or later if it is not split up.
It’s not too late to stop it now, if it’s a little later and the Kingdom of Prussia is also swayed by public opinion, it’ll be difficult for us to stop their unification even if we want to!”
“What specific plans do you have?” Nicholas I asked with interest
Karl Worcel analyzed, “Your Majesty, this plan still needs the contribution of Britain and France, and cannot be proposed by us, it will affect the Russian-Austrian relations.
According to the current situation, it is not a big problem for the Austrians to get the South German region, if Britain and France are willing to stop it, they can be allowed to be the villain.
Prussia can get some expansion in North Germany, the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein are assigned to the Danes, and the western states can be merged with Belgium and Holland.
Of course the West German states that’s none of our business, let the British have their own headaches. It doesn’t matter whether it’s given to Prussia, the two little brothers Belgium and Holland, or independence.
As long as these economically developed regions are not annexed by Austria, their power will not skyrocket. After the division of Germany, Austria’s road to expansion is blocked, and then they will have to fight for overseas colonies.
This will inevitably lead to conflict with Britain and France, and with a common enemy, our future relationship with Austria is expected to go even further.”
Solving the problem once and for all was indeed the best option, as long as the German region was completely split, no country on the European continent would be able to threaten the security of the Russian Empire.
At least in the current situation, it is not possible to see that one country, which has the strength to threaten Russia. Even the French, who were most feared by the Tsarist government, were now not as formidable as they had been in Napoleonic times.
……
Paris.
The situation was changing so fast that Napoleon III’s plan to sit back and watch the tigers die before it had a chance to get started.
The states in the German region all acted as humpbacks, as if the Bavarian government was really guilty of the most heinous crimes, and Austria’s overthrow of their rule was expected.
Well, from the intelligence coming from Bavaria, Napoleon III had to admit that Austria was indeed desirable this time.
This meant that Austria’s annexation of Bavaria would be easy, an armed march from start to finish, with casualties on both sides adding up to no more than three figures. With a good popular base, there was no problem at all in ruling in the future.
Napoleon III cursed, “The news from the German region is known to all.
The situation is completely out of control, and if we don’t take action, it might not be long before Austria is able to rebuild that damn Shinra Empire.
If you don’t want to see the resurgence of that monster that has plagued France for hundreds of years, then find a way to strangle them now!”
Interior Minister Persini proposed, “Your Majesty, the way things are now, we must be prepared for armed intervention. Considering the current situation in the German region, these states will not be our allies either.
Austria is not weak, so to be on the safe side, it would be best to act in conjunction with Britain and Russia. The most important thing now is to coordinate diplomatic relations and ensure that the powers are on the same page.”
Pessini was Napoleon III’s mastermind, including the Restoration plan. He might not be good at governing a country, but he was definitely a master when it came to playing power games.
Obviously persuading Napoleon III not to risk interfering in this war, when it came out of his mouth, it became a diplomatic necessity.
Also implicitly reminded Napoleon III, now the main force of France is still in the Near East battlefield, the domestic force is empty, this point if the troops sent, that is to contribute to the enemy’s performance.
There was no way around it, the Napoleonic era of universal mobilization was a thing of the past. The present French Empire could not catch up with Prussia in the speed of mobilization.
Without enough troops in hand, it would be a joke to jump out and intervene by force.
Napoleon III asked with concern, “How long will it take for us to have enough troops to intervene in this war?”
Minister of War Arnaud thought for a moment and said, “Your Majesty, because of the Near East War, our standing army has now exceeded eight hundred thousand, and a large number of reserves have been conscripted.
Two hundred and eighty thousand on the Crimean Peninsula, two hundred thousand in Constantinople, one hundred and fifty-four thousand in the overseas colonies, and just under one hundred and seventy thousand troops at home.
Every month we are now able to mobilize one hundred and fifty thousand young men into the army, and these recruits have at least three months’ training before they can be put into the field.
If we were to intervene in this war alone, it would take at least half a year before we had enough troops.”
Napoleon III had completely stopped the idea of going it alone. It was all the work of the July dynasty; under Louis Philippe, France’s standing army was usually just over 200,000 men, and the universal army was deserted.
After Napoleon III came to power, the army was expanded to 800,000, where there are still so many reserves can be directly recruited.
The age of the youth of France is now not a shortage, but these people are not able to take up arms on the battlefield, but also have to carry out a certain amount of training.
Three months of basic training, in fact, has been the cannon fodder of cannon fodder, combat effectiveness is low. This kind of unreliable army, Napoleon III did not dare to take to the battlefield.
It is not that the mobilization ability of the French is really poor, this era everyone is similar, before Franz reformed the military system, Austria’s mobilization ability is also similar to the French.
In this era, can quickly mobilize eight hundred thousand troops out of the country, Europe is also Russia, France and Austria. Of course, there are many other countries that can put together the numbers, but there is no guarantee of combat effectiveness.
Seeing a leaf and knowing the fall, based on the situation in France, Napoleon III quickly came to the conclusion that this forceful intervention was afraid to be difficult to carry on.
Unless the Austrians really wanted to unify Germany and pissed everyone off. Britain, France and Russia drew back the troops that were at war, otherwise no one had enough troops in their hands now.
His judgment was not wrong, the British gave up the force intervention plan in the first place because the British Army could not get a large enough force.
……
While all countries were preparing, Franz was not idle, and the Foreign Office was busy, opening up public relations throughout the continent.
Even Switzerland, which had a long-standing enmity with the Habsburgs, was not spared; hatred that was a thing of the past. Since the declaration of permanent neutrality at the Congress of Vienna in 1815, relations between the two countries have been normalized.
Of course, this was not the focus of Austrian public relations, but just a routine to show the Swiss government’s attitude.
Unless the Swiss were willing to give up their neutrality, they could not take part in the war, and indeed could not afford to do so.
Switzerland in this era was not yet the developed country of the latter days, and as a mountainous country, it was naturally less poor before completing industrialization.
In addition to snubbing the states in the German region, the biggest PR target was actually the French. The Russians can not be counted, which was taken care of in advance, and now just continue to maintain communication.
It’s not that Franz didn’t want to do the work of the British, the problem was that John Bull was too shrewd, and Austria didn’t have the interest to be able to buy them off.
On the contrary, the French, we have a common language, can pay a certain price to buy. Cutting meat on himself, Franz is afraid of pain, then only at the expense of others.
……
(End of chapter)