Chapter 243: International Political Diplomacy

  Chapter 237 International Political Diplomacy

At the critical moment, the bureaucrats of the Tsarist government had a rare moment of efficiency.

Everyone is smart and knows the seriousness of the consequences, if this is not even a little bit of eyesight, would have long been eliminated in the internal struggle of the bureaucracy.

The demand for weapons and ammunition was so high that it was obvious that they could not be taken out all at once, and that orders had to be placed for their production. Even if Franz had been prepared, it would have been impossible to hoard hundreds of huge guns and tens of thousands of tons of shells and leave them there.

In case the Russians stopped buying, to whom could he sell these armaments?

The Austrian Army couldn’t use these big, inconveniently moving things, and the Navy was too poor to afford to purchase so many guns, and besides, naval defense didn’t need so many guns.

After the decision was made, the Tsarist government immediately sent an order to Austria, but unfortunately the production capacity of the huge guns was not enough.

As the usual period of the Austrian army to purchase up to 6 pounds, 12 pounds of artillery, these are the most commonly used equipment in service, 24 pounds of field artillery equipment are very few. Most of the naval cruisers of this era were 24-pounders, and the main ships were equipped with 48-pounders.

Now also attack the fortifications of Constantinople, the power of these guns is obviously not enough. The Russians needed heavy guns of 68 pounds or more, and it was clear that most of these guns were used as shore guns, with very little actual demand.

(Note: This era of artillery caliber error is relatively large, the same type of artillery with the same batch of error of a few millimeters is a common thing; the same type of artillery, produced by different arsenals, the caliber error may be as high as more than ten millimeters. Measuring the size of artillery by its caliber would be anachronistic.)

These heavy artillery is not only a good weapon for siege, even for the British and French ships are enough to cause a fatal threat, it is clear that the Russians want to change the current situation of the dilemma of passive defeat.

As the market demand is small, the production line of the military industrialization enterprises is naturally small, many arsenals only have the ability to produce large-scale artillery, and will only open the production line after getting the order, which takes time.

Not enough production capacity? It didn’t matter, Russia and Austria were allies, weren’t they? Franz is a warm-hearted person, active equipment can also be sold, as long as the Austrian army has, just take your pick.

The era of breech-loading guns will soon come, these guns will soon be eliminated, now as an early replacement.

Old goods? You don’t have to buy them. You’ll get new ones after a few months.

Obviously, the Tsarist government could not afford to wait, and the Russian army at the front could not afford to wait. Never mind what old goods or not, can be used normally on the line, the big deal is to let the Austrians to provide after-sales maintenance services.

Even the Austrian Navy’s order of artillery, were cut off by the Russians, anyway, the Navy in a short period of time no war, for the sake of the Russian-Austrian friendship or prioritize to meet the ally!

Any plan proved to be ideal. Dragged more than two months time, Austria only came up with more than one hundred and fifty giant guns, the rest are only 24-pounders and 48-pounders to make up the number.

The fact that the artillery was in hand did not mean that it was immediately ready to attack. It was easy to transport them from Austria to Bulgaria via the Danube River, but it was a big trouble to transport them to the front line.

Move tens of tons, hundreds of tons of big guys, transport is quite a problem. Originally, these guns are used as shore guns, as long as the power is big enough, a little heavier, a little bigger does not matter, now the transportation is naturally troublesome.

Artillery is not in place, Maishkov slowed down the front line of the offensive, he did not want to let the Russian army die for nothing, gray livestock is not worth it, but if the death of more, it is also heartbreaking ah!

……

Athens.

The Minister of War said in fear, “Your Majesty, the British have crossed the border line and entered our borders under the pretext of pursuing the enemy. Here’s a document from the front line asking for instructions on what to do.”

Otto I casually knocked the document away, what to do? Do you even need to ask such a simple question? Of course nothing was done.

They didn’t have the strength to hold off the British. Helping the British to chase the defeated soldiers, that is even more impossible, the Greek government, no matter what, can not be so shameless to this point.

“Tell the governments everywhere to find a way to hide all the soldiers who have fled back. If they can’t, send them to the rear, they must act carefully and not let the British catch them.” Otto I ordered.

At this point, it would not do to not pay the price. Politically speaking, what the British did actually gave him the chance to get out of it.

The British Empire was a maritime hegemon and a top power, and losing to them was always more acceptable to the populace than losing to the Ottomans.

It wasn’t that the government didn’t try, it was that the enemy was too powerful.

If Otto I had been shameless, he could have bragged about how they had beaten the Ottomans with overwhelming force, not realizing that they would be attacked by the British in a despicable sneak attack, and that is why they lost, which is totally a non-war crime.

As to whether it would cause a civil wave of anti-Britishness, it was not a matter of concern now. Since the last Anglo-Greek conflict, the relationship between the two countries had not been good, and it would not hurt to add another one.

The Foreign Minister reminded, “Your Majesty, judging from the current situation, the outcome of this Near East War no longer has anything to do with us.

The British army has entered the Greek Peninsula, and now that we have lost our options, we must consider the aftermath.”

Despite their confidence in the Russians, the British were already here, and if they didn’t do something about it, they would first become a government in exile before the Russians won.

Thinking about it Otto I had a headache, this family had only just been expelled from the Kingdom of Bavaria, if not for Austria’s attention to eating in exchange for the throne of the Kingdom of Lombardy, it would now be a government in exile.

Now the family’s resources are invested in the Kingdom of Lombardy, can not have the energy to come back to support him. So many years of pure investment, can not see the return, many people in the family are dissatisfied.

Historically, after Otto I abdicated, he asked the Bavarian royal family to send someone to take over the throne, but it turned out that none of his brothers or nephews were willing to take over the mess before it was George I’s turn.

Without outside support, he faced even more problems than in history, and one bad move would have seen him ousted by the British.

After wandering a few steps, Otto I spoke: “The foreign ministry sent someone to negotiate secretly with the British, the current situation can only stop the loss.

At the same time send someone to contact the Russians, French, and Austrians, I’m sure they don’t want to see the British dominate, now we need their diplomatic support.”

“Yes, Your Majesty!” The Foreign Minister replied

Now is the era of the Great Powers, without the support of the Great Powers, this time it would be as hard as hell for them to get out of this crisis.

……

Facts proved that Otto I’s judgment was accurate. Although the Kingdom of Greece was not strong, economically underdeveloped, resource-rich, and did not have much interest in itself, they had a good geographical location.

The Russians could not tolerate the British dominating the area and blocking their access to the Mediterranean; the French did not want to see the British expanding their power in the Near East and affecting their interests.

Austria, not to mention the fact that out of the Adriatic was Greece, letting the British get big here likewise threatened Austria’s maritime security.

……

Vienna.

Upon receiving a request for help from the Greek government, Franz decided that he wanted to intervene in the British operations in Greece, and how he was going to do so was the question.

Intervention by force was out of the question, unless he sent the Austrian army there, and even if the navy was, the Austrian navy was not qualified.

Metternich suggested: “Your Majesty, this time we can join forces with the French, Napoleon III will not be willing to watch the British seize power in their interests.

In the Mediterranean, as long as our two countries are in agreement, the British can’t be impossible to ignore.”

Yes, the French and Austrian navies tied together could not be a match for the British, but the British had many colonies and naturally many areas where their navies were stationed.

By contrast, the Austrian navy was all nestled in the Mediterranean, and was the second most powerful naval force in the Mediterranean after the British and French. The combined naval power of France and Austria in the Mediterranean again exceeded that of the British.

Strength is power of speech, even if the British are the hegemony of the sea, but also can not ignore the common will of Austria and France.

Historically, the Kingdom of Greece existed to capitalize on the conflicts between the countries, and now Otto I made the same choice.

It can be said that in international politics, in the morning on this issue everyone is an ally, and in the afternoon at home on another issue everyone becomes an enemy.

Allies with no conflict of interest at all are almost non-existent in this day and age. The core factor that determines the relationship between allies is whether there is a large mutual interest or a large conflict.

Franz thought about it and said, “Let’s talk to France first and see what they want. Greece’s domestic interests are not worth mentioning, we don’t have to ask for anything, as long as we don’t let the British take full control of Greece.”

No desire, no demand, this was Franz’s attitude towards Greece. The reason was very simple, strategic factors aside, all the countries that had historically invested in Greece had lost money.

If nothing else, the Kingdom of Greece would soon be in financial difficulties, unable to pay the countries’ loans, and then be held in trust by the countries for a period of time for their finances.

This is not a one time or two time thing, this little brother who takes over is going to provide them with loans to keep them afloat.

Britain and France kind of financial dominated countries, this kind of business they can still do, capitalists can use all kinds of means to raise funds, from which they can make profits, and in the end, even if the loans and bonds can’t be repaid, it’s only the ordinary people who are unlucky, and they have gained enough benefits in advance.

Austria, however, can not play like this, the country does not have a large enough amount of idle capital, to participate in such speculative activities. Financial groups dare to play like this, the Vienna government will be the first to refuse.

These funds used to develop the country, rather than take to buy the Greeks is much more cost-effective. Under the concept of developing itself, the Austrian financial capital in the international capital market is very low-profile.

Not low-profile also can not, and compared with the British and French consortium, Austria’s domestic financial group financial strength is still too weak. If too active, may fall into the trap, will be swallowed by others.

Since the end of the westward strategy, the Vienna government has been easing relations with European countries.

When there was no conflict of interest, diplomatic relations were restored very quickly. Especially small countries, as long as the Vienna government throws an olive branch, the relationship between each other immediately eased down.

If you hold a grudge in international diplomacy, then congratulations, in the near future, the whole world is your enemy.

Including the issue of the dominance of the German Federal Reich, in fact, are the result of a compromise between Britain and Austria, if the two countries quarrel, it would not be possible to elect the emperor so quickly.

Now that repairing Franco-Austrian relations has become the focus of the Foreign Ministry’s work, it is expected that the Paris government will make a similar decision. There is no other way, the interests!

Do not look at Napoleon III has always been the implementation of pro-British policy, think that Britain and France are allies, in fact, they are only in dealing with the Russians are allies.

Most of the time, Britain and France were on opposite sides. The British were the world’s first naval power, the French were the world’s second naval power, and the power gap between the two sides wasn’t as great as it was in later times, with the French navy possessing six or seven tiers of the Royal Navy’s power.

This number has been enough for the boss to suppress the second, coupled with the conflict between the two sides on the overseas colonies, the British and French conflict is not a star. Only the ability of the hairy bear to pull hatred is too powerful, directly to the British and French conflicts are covered up.

In this context, the history of the Crimea battlefield to take advantage of the past, Napoleon III immediately and the Russians negotiations, without the slightest regard for the feelings of the British allies, is because the French need the Russians to hold John Bull.

The complexity of international relations gave Franz a headache. Before going out to open up overseas colonies, Austria basically did not have much of a conflict of interest with any of the countries.

After this step, the situation was immediately different. It was only a matter of time before there was a conflict with the colonized countries, and how to deal with these relations was the biggest problem faced by the Austrian Foreign Ministry.

In aspect, the British also did a good thing. Although they were trying to avoid the outbreak of war on the European continent and were worried about missing the opportunity to contain the Russians, the establishment of the German Federal Empire also avoided a direct conflict between France and Austria.

It doesn’t matter how strong this buffer is, with the existence of this buffer, in that neither the French nor the Austrian governments had to face each other’s military pressure directly.

Franz is afraid of the French, Napoleon III and why not afraid of Austria? On the surface the strength of the two great powers but evenly matched, Western Europe and Central and Southern Europe to form a balance.

Balance means stability, in the absence of sufficient benefits before, neither Paris, or Vienna will not venture to break this balance.

The French want to expand colonies outside, then inevitably increase the investment in the navy, in order to the security of the mainland, ease the relationship with Austria is the inevitable choice.

Also want to join the feast of the Vienna government, in order to their own security, must also ease the relationship between the two countries.

In this context, the warming of relations between France and Austria has become inevitable. And the joint mediation of the Greek issue created an opportunity for relations between the two countries.

(End of chapter)