Chapter 262: Economic Transformation
Chapter 254 Economic Transformation
After the Vienna Conference, the European continent once again returned to tranquility.
The signing of the Convention of the Four Powers is the joy of several families, for most of the countries is naturally a good thing, the international order re-established everyone can sleep a peaceful sleep.
Order means stability, since the European continent has stabilized, for the Kingdom of Prussia, the Kingdom of Sardinia, this means that the road of expansion on the European continent is broken.
Breaking the international situation is bound to suffer the backlash of the international order, and this price is not something they can afford.
Turin, looking at the “Convention of Four States” in his hand, Prime Minister Cavour was mixed. A stable international situation will help them recover their economy, but it will also be harder to unify the Italian region.
After the Austro-Saxon War, the unification route of the Kingdom of Sardinia changed, and most people believed that it was too difficult to recapture Lombardy and Venetia from Austria, so it would be better to start with Tuscany, the Papal States, and the Kingdom of Naples.
Cavour was also a supporter of this route, and the route of unification of the Kingdom of Sardinia by starting with the easy and then the difficult was in line with the actual situation of the Kingdom of Sardinia.
Don’t look at the fact that after the Austro-Sardinian War, they suffered heavy losses and haven’t recovered until now, but among the several states in the Italian region, they are still one of the strongest.
Now that the Convention of Four Nations came out, their plan went bankrupt, and even the British, who supported them, would not let them break the situation of the European continent at this time.
Since Britain and France lost the war in the Near East, the Kingdom of Sardinia, as one of the investors, naturally had to follow the losses, taking thousands of lives for nothing, and could not get half the benefits.
Without the power to give them benefits, they did not dare to take them. The French were able to take a piece of the Balkan Peninsula, but only on the basis of their strength.
In the Near East War, the French army’s fighting strength was widely recognized by all countries, there is no problem to keep one-third of the Balkan Peninsula, no matter Russia or Austria, it is not possible to fight with the French for such a small benefit.
The high cost of modern warfare has taught everyone that it is better not to go to war with a great power until it is absolutely necessary.
“Prime Minister, you say you want to mend fences with the Austrians?” Vittorio Emmanuel II asked incredulously
To know, in order to drum up everyone’s courage, the Sardinian government had not taken the hatred between the two countries, and now it suddenly wanted to change its policy, which seriously stimulated Vittorio Emmanuel II’s fragile nerves.
Cavour explained: “Your Majesty, now the international situation has changed, after the reconstruction of the Vienna system, there will be no outbreak of war between the great powers for a long time to come.
It is difficult to defeat Austria with our strength alone, and continuing to be hostile to the Austrians has no substantial benefit other than making them more vigilant.
Because of the political antagonism between the two countries, we have also been economically blockaded by our enemies, which has brought us great losses.”
As a qualified politician, Cavour could weigh the pros and cons calmly and would not be blinded by hatred.
Right now the Sardinian Kingdom was in a state of disarray, it had only been five years since the Ossa War, and they had yet to come out from the shadow of the war. If you want to recover the economy as soon as possible, it is obviously not wise to continue to fight with Austria.
Historically, the unification of the Italian region was full of coincidences. Now the Kingdom of Sardinia wants to unify the Italian region, but in reality it is just a thought, and everyone’s heart still has no bottom.
Especially the unification war initiated by the German region, finally ended in failure, but also hit the confidence of the Italians.
Apart from the British, which other powers wanted to see the unification of the Italian regions? The answer is: not a single one.
Even the support of the British was only verbal, and it was a fool’s errand to expect the British to contribute to the unification of the Italian regions.
After hesitating for a moment, Vittorio Emmanuel II asked, “How to explain to the people, knowing that in order to inspire everyone’s fighting spirit, the hatred of Ossa that we provoked has already penetrated into the hearts of the people.”
As he spoke, Vittorio Emmanuel II had a few hints of sadness between his brows, clearly he was not optimistic about Prime Minister Cavour’s proposal.
Cavour replied calmly, “Your Majesty, there is no need to do anything, just downplay it. The Austrophobes in the country will explain it for us, after all, the enemy is strong and we are weak now, so we must hold back.”
The fact that he dared to propose easing the relationship between the two countries was based on the existence of numerous Austrophobes within the Sardinian Kingdom, who had already lost their guts, fearing that the two countries would break out into war again.
Don’t look at the slogan of unifying Italy shouted amazingly, in fact, in the civil society is interested in this is not a lot of people, most people don’t believe that the Sardinian Kingdom can unify the Italian region.
Especially after a war, most of the Sardinian people are the main peace faction, every family wears mourning, everyone weeping situation experienced once, no one wants to come back for a second time.
The more frustrated you are, the more courageous you become? It doesn’t exist!
Because of the war, Sardinia Kingdom financial bankruptcy, in order to pay off the debt, that now even the army is only a nominal existence, what to take revenge?
……
Sardinian Kingdom’s foreign policy shift, Franz is ignorant, these are not the focus of his attention.
The Near East War was over, and so was Austria’s chance to make a fortune from the war. The military-industrial complex had just made a fortune and had gained handsomely from the war, so naturally there was no such thing as a crisis.
In this war, Austria exported to the Russians a total of one million two hundred thousand rifles, more than 2,000 guns, all kinds of weapons and ammunition totaling more than 100,000 tons, miscellaneous weapons and equipment a number of.
The total transaction price of arms and ammunition amounted to 250 million rubles, which set the highest record of arms transactions in the history of mankind and exceeded the total amount of arms transactions on the international market in the past one hundred years.
This figure is insignificant in the future, but in the present is a huge amount of money, enough to make the Austrian military industry enterprises to carry out a comprehensive technological upgrading.
The military field does not need to worry about, are three years do not open, open to eat three years of profiteering industry.
Other industries will not be able to, because the end of the war product supply and demand has changed, it is necessary to adjust the production line.
Originally, the post-war reconstruction is a big deal, but unfortunately, the tsarist government is too poor, there is no money for post-war reconstruction.
The client had no money, Franz can not do anything. With the current international political situation, the tsarist government wanted to seek foreign loans, but it was still very difficult.
It can be imagined that the Austrian economy would be challenged in the following 1855, but of course the market feedback also needs time, and the crisis would not break out in the short term.
Even if the war is over, Austria also seized a lot of markets, these markets can also give the domestic industrial and commercial renewal.
Vienna Palace
Franz said seriously: “The Near East war is over, the domestic economy is bound to be adjusted, private enterprises by the capitalists to decide for themselves, do not need us to help them worry, but the state-owned enterprises must do a good job of industrial transformation.
Many of the heavily consumed materials in the war are now no longer needed in the market, so these production lines must be adjusted, the cutbacks should be cut back, the closure of the closure of the closure.
Adjust the direction of production to where the market needs it, industries that really can’t be adjusted, or industries that are too low in profit, can be auctioned off.
It’s fine for the government to just control some of the industries that have a bearing on the nation’s livelihood, and it’s fine to just maintain some influence on ordinary industries.”
Give up if you can’t make a profit, Franz didn’t hold on to the idea that state-owned enterprises were untouchable; the mainstream economy of this era was all about private capital.
The Austrian government owns so many industries, also caused by special reasons, not the government is ready to engage in so many industries at the beginning, now sell some Franz also have no pressure.
Prime Minister Felix replied: ”Your Majesty, I’m afraid it’s not a good opportunity to dispose of these industries now, we all know that the war is over, without foreign trade orders these enterprises simply can’t be sold at a good price.
Moreover, the resettlement of the state-owned enterprises’ personnel is also very troublesome, why don’t we hold off for a while and wait for the market to complete its self-regulation before dealing with this issue.”
Franz shook his head and said, “No, when the market has finished regulating itself, new enterprises will have already risen up, to whom will we sell these low value enterprises in our hands?
The same enterprise, in the hands of the government and the hands of capitalists, is not a concept at all. According to past experience, many enterprises that failed under the direct management of the government were quickly turned around after being sold to capitalists.
We cannot simply consider the price issue, but also take a holistic approach to ensure the rapid development of the domestic economy.
The staff arrangement is not to be feared, direct transfer, the Balkan Peninsula is still short of administrative officials, you can send some of them there.
An enterprise has come to the point of being auctioned off in their hands, do they still have the nerve to claim themselves as meritorious officials?”
While others did not know that an economic crisis was coming, Franz sensed something unusual on the capital market, and it was only right to raise as much money as possible before the crisis broke out.
Employee arrangements Franz is not worried at all, no matter who is the boss, it is the same for the ordinary employees at the bottom.
Austrian state-owned enterprises still exist for a short period of time, has not yet had time to form interest groups, simply do not have the ability to make conditions with the government.
Enterprises have been sold, to adjust the leading cadres have not been held accountable, even if it is lucky, want to enjoy the merit treatment dream!
Austrian state-owned enterprises have a very high degree of autonomy, and the fact that their operations are in trouble or have reached a dead end in an environment of good economic development is proof of their incompetence.
Incompetent people, Franz naturally will not give them a good face, did not drive these people back home, that is mercy.
Of course, the Austrian Balkans grassroots civil service vacancies are serious, is also an important factor. These people may have average ability, but the advantage is that it is safe to use, do not have to worry about their collusion with the Ottoman remnants of the leakage of the net.
(End of chapter)