Chapter 237:
Chapter 232 The Union of Marriages
Otto I’s fantasy didn’t last long before it was shattered, he didn’t need to be reminded, he himself knew it was impossible.
Domestic public opinion aside, they sent troops to sneak into the Ottoman Empire this time, for the defeat of the allied forces in the Second Bulgarian War, bear unshirkable responsibility.
The British army has suffered heavy losses in this battle, and Downing Street has changed its owner, if they are just spared, do the British still want to lose face?
Did not win the Russians, the London government can still be accepted, originally the British people have low expectations of the army, losing to the Russians is not too shameful.
However, after participating in a war, the British can not just watch the French power, it is reduced to a spectator, right?
In any case, the British Army desperately needed a win to prove itself. Unfortunately, Greece was their chosen soft target.
Had it not been, the Greek government would not have gotten nowhere after so much public relations with the government in London.
Otto I said helplessly, “Can’t the army really fight? Even if it’s just a tie, we still have the capital to negotiate!”
The War Minister replied laterally, “Your Majesty, ever since the defeat against the British, the morale of the army has all but disappeared, with people fleeing every day. If it wasn’t for the discipline of military law, I don’t even know how many soldiers are left at the front now.”
There was no way around it, this army was all put together in pieces, all supported by the nationalistic and patriotic ideology. Once that breath was let out, it was immediately revealed in its original form.
Expecting this rabble to defeat the enemy was simply a dream.
“Deserters?”
Otto I’s eyes lit up, seemed to have thought of something and failed to grasp it, his mouth kept chanting, “Deserter”, “Deserter” ……
Seeing the king who had fallen into a demonic barrier, the crowd tacitly chose to remain silent.
After half a sound of effort, Otto I said in a low voice: “How about if we let the troops break into pieces and scatter to break out and leave?
As long as we are not caught in evidence by the British, they won’t do anything to us!”
It must be said that Otto I was still a smart man, not stupid enough to really ally with the Russians.
Greece’s geographic location dictated the strategic choice, even if the Russians won this war, they could not detach themselves from the influence of Britain and France.
If they jumped into the arms of the Russians now, I’m afraid they would be finished before the war was over.
The Prime Minister warned, “Your Majesty, there will be great losses if you do this, and I’m afraid that not many of these soldiers will survive once they fall into the hands of the Ottomans.”
Since it was a civilian arm, military discipline was naturally no better, there was revenge and grudges, and with the war going on, the seeds of hatred between the two sides had long since taken root and sprouted.
At this time, the so-called dispersal of the breakout is actually saying that the fight can’t be won, so let’s all run away!
And also can not run directly back to the Kingdom of Greece, otherwise the enemy will follow to kill over, to be scattered from other areas to detour back to the country.
With the situation of the Greek army, the orderly evacuation is non-existent, it is estimated that the order will be directly turned into a rout, and those who can run back alive will obviously not be many.
The Greek kingdom’s family is not thick, this army is their domestic half of the young and strong, once the loss of heavy, it is “every family wearing mourning, everyone weeping” situation.
“Do we have any choice? We can’t win on the battlefield, and the Russians won’t come to our aid, so we can’t expect the Duchy of Montenegro next door to come to our rescue, can we?” Otto I asked rhetorically
This war cannot be brought to the negotiating table to talk about, or they can’t afford the liquidation of the British. Domestic nationalism is also not something to be messed with, these people not only don’t see the coffin, but they are also the ones who can’t afford to lose.
In any case, we are going to lose, Otto I naturally have to find a way to get out of it.
The front line of the army can not win, everyone scattered to break out, no matter how big the loss, the king has nothing to do with the surface, at least he does not have to bear the political responsibility for the failure.
……
Vienna.
The Empress Dowager Sophie gave Franz an ultimatum, no matter what the marriage had to be booked immediately, even if it was not a marriage with her niece, then she had to find one who was a good match.
This is not only her personal will, but also represents the will of the Habsburg family, as well as the will of the people of the empire, who can not stand the emperor to continue to be single.
Free love? Franz regretted that he hadn’t gotten around to falling in love yet!
In that case, it would be better to get engaged to a familiar one, than to marry one he knew nothing about, in case he was green.
The day after Christmas 1853, Franz was engaged to Princess Helene of the Wittelsbach dynasty. The whole thing was arranged by the Empress Dowager Sophie, Franz just followed the procedure.
Face value is both justice, and seeing as it was a buy-one-get-one-free situation, Franz was still very happy.
How chaotic is the European aristocracy? This question can not be answered, in short, in addition to the bloodline can not be mixed dilute, messy rotten a whole lot, chastity concept is indifferent to the terrible.
Although this marriage is not a match, but we are childhood sweethearts ah, fiancée early into the Vienna Palace, to ensure that it is the original goods.
After the engagement, Franz and Princess Helen were restricted from intimate contact by the Empress Dowager Sophie, and absolutely no unmarried pregnancies were allowed.
Suffered a crisis of confidence, Franz is very helpless, he repeatedly assured that he is not a person who does not know the rules.
How could he not help that the Empress Dowager Sophie did not believe in his character, and pointed out unceremoniously what he had previously thought he had kept secret, so obviously there were not many things in this royal palace that could be hidden from this mistress.
Before it was to fool Franz and niece engagement, naturally do not mind these small things, now the big picture has been decided, then it must be strictly guarded, can not make a joke.
Franz had some suspicions that he had been set up by his old lady, but after double-checking, he had to admit that it was his own willpower that was too weak to resist the temptation.
He was sure it was definitely not his own problem, it must be the aftermath of the trip to St. Petersburg, being brought down by the Russian aristocrats, that made his willpower drop.
These were minor problems, and anyway, he was in charge of them, and Franz was not at all abashed. Even if he wasn’t responsible for it, he likewise didn’t wimp out, a son always has a higher status than a niece.
In the context of the marriage of the two families, all discordant factors must be extinguished in the cradle, Franz is not worried about making a mess.
The importance of this marriage to the Wittelsbach dynasty is much more important than the Habsburg dynasty. Maximilian II, who had just arrived in Milan, wanted to stabilize the throne, but could not do without the support of the Habsburgs.
Franz agreed to this marriage, in addition to the good relationship with Princess Helen, but also consider the political factors.
The annexation of the Kingdom of Bavaria made the newly joined royal houses of Saxony, Hesse and Württemberg a little worried, and even if the throne of Lombardy was given to the Wittelsbach dynasty, it was still not enough to reassure them.
If not for these royal families, there is no princess of the right age, there is no chance that the object of this marriage will be changed. Do not doubt Franz’s modesty, in the face of politics is often not in the body.
Unable to draw them in through marriage, then and the Wittelsbach dynasty marriage can also play a role, Lombardy Kingdom in the political power to reduce, but nominally still equal mobilization.
In this issue, basically rely on negotiation, the Habsburg family did not and Wittelsbach dynasty feud, through the marriage to eliminate that bit of unpleasantness, naturally feasible.
Under the common interests, they became allies again. By the way, also let Saxony, Hesse, Württemberg royal family assured, the Habsburg family has eaten, will not swallow them all in one bite.
Franz could say with certainty that it was they who were overthinking it. In addition to reducing the difficulty of unification by not annexing these states, it was more important that unification by force would be indigestible.
National unification, unlike foreign expansion, a lot of overkill could not be used. Without being able to carry out a major cleansing, if the hearts and minds of the people could not be recovered, the local area would not be stabilized for the next ten or twenty years.
The overthrown royal family and interest groups will want to be restored, and without the means to do so, they can still incarnate as a revolutionary party to overturn the table, and everyone will be separated in one shot, and no one will want to feel better.
Specifically, you can refer to the February Revolution in France, which Napoleon III can be elected president, we know the role played by Bonaparte’s party in this uprising.
The so-called usurpation of the fruits of the revolution, in fact, is not accurate, from beginning to end of the people are the leaders of the revolution, only hidden behind the scenes to manipulate, the last moment before jumping out, otherwise Napoleon III how could it be so easy to seize power?
As an emperor, Franz did not want to leave hidden dangers to his rule, the first thing to consider is stability.
Historically, the Second Empire Bismarck advocated to leave so many states, in addition to the strength is not good to swallow, but more for the long-term stability.
This approach proved to be very effective, no matter how many conflicts between the local and central governments, they were all carried out within the rules, and never heard of a state revolting.
The biggest gain from the annexation of these German states was not the resources, not the strategy, not even the political interests, the biggest gain was still the population, and it was still a high quality population.
According to the census two years ago, the total population of the Austrian Empire exceeded thirty-seven million, in the European continent only after the Russians, but the main ethnic groups only 8.7 million.
In order to make the data look better, at the behest of Franz, the Austrian government directly to some of the mixed blood with German ancestry, directly artificially divided into Germans.
Then the number of main ethnic groups rapidly swelled to more than 10.3 million, and only then did the main ethnic groups rise from 23.5% to 27.8%.
Okay, that’s a bit of a stretch. A lot of people with only a quarter or an eighth of German ancestry became German, and Franz wasn’t so rigid that a bit of flexibility would have made the numbers look much better.
This situation, now that it had finally been effectively resolved, the number of subject nationalities finally broke forty percent.
With the development of the economy and the accelerated rate of population mobility, this kind of cross-ethnicity marriage will certainly increase greatly in the future.
It has to be recognized that this oldest way of ethnic integration is actually the most effective and least hidden way of ethnic integration.
The current impetus for this kind of ethnic integration is the imbalance of the male to female ratio in the German region, where there are more men than women as an urgent social reality, a situation that lasted until after the Second World War, when it was reversed.
In Hungary, on the other hand, there are more women than men, which is a result of the geography of the region, in addition to the reduction in the number of young men due to the civil war.
Of course, the situation was even more serious in Serbia and the two Danube Valley principalities, where the number of young men was drastically reduced as a result of the war.
If nothing is done, Franz can be sure that in the next twenty years, these regions will have negative population growth, especially the Serbian region is more serious.
All these social backgrounds created favorable conditions for national integration, how could Franz give up such an opportunity?
The question now is what to do to get people to marry, which is a headache. In this regard, Franz had no successful experience to learn from.
(End of chapter)