Chapter 287: Chaos in Central Asia

  Chapter 277: Chaos in Central Asia

Due to Franz’s butterfly effect, despite the Russians’ heavy losses in the Near East War, they got the coveted Constantinople, and in front of the victory, the domestic crisis was suppressed.

After two years of recuperation, the Tsarist government became restless again. Only at this time the Vienna system was rebuilt, there was no longer any opportunity for them to expand on the European continent, and the tsarist government had to cast its eyes on the Asian region.

In October 1856, under the encouragement of the Russians, the Persian dynasty captured Herat, and the British, stimulated, immediately declared war on the Persian dynasty, and the Anglo-Persian War broke out.

Herat west of the Persian Gulf, north of the Caspian Sea and the Yaxalt River, east of the Indus River, a special geographic location determines the strategic position of the British and Russian hegemony in the Asian continent an important part.

During the Near East War, the Russians had planned an expedition to India to force the British to withdraw from the war, and Herat was the hurdle that could not be circumvented.

At that time, the government of Herat was afraid that it would offend the British and refused the request of the Russians to borrow the road, and the relationship between the two countries deteriorated.

In order to remove this nail, the Tsarist government turned to the Persian dynasty and now supports the Persian invasion of Herat.

Influenced by the outbreak of the Central Asian War, the negotiations on the Gulf of Guinea also took a turn for the worse, and the British government had to make concessions in order to gain the support of international public opinion.

Without Britain as a shit-stirrer, the later negotiations were much easier. Because of the late entrance, the French did not have much interest in the area, and the Paris government did not make great efforts to fight for it, while the remaining countries did not have the strength to fight for it.

On November 1, 1856, the seven nations of Britain, France, Austria, Spain, the United States, Portugal, and the Netherlands signed the Treaty of the Gulf of Guinea in Vienna, also known as: the Treaty of Seven Nations.

The treaty stipulated that the coastal area of the Gulf of Guinea would be demarcated by the area actually occupied by each country, that the colonial strongholds of each country should not attack each other, and that the gold mines in the inland area would belong to whoever discovered them first.

On the surface, no one lost out, but in reality this had already established Austria’s hegemony in the area, and Austria, with its manpower advantage, had the absolute upper hand.

The United States, West and France jointly occupied Liberia, Austria, Britain and Portugal jointly occupied Sierra Leone, Austria, Portugal, France and the Netherlands jointly occupied Côte d’Ivoire, Austria, Britain and the Netherlands jointly occupied Ghana, Britain and Austria jointly occupied Togo, and Austria solely occupied Guinea.

The intersection of the forces of the countries in the Gulf of Guinea directly made it the most chaotic region in the world, and the Treaty of Seven Nations only temporarily suppressed the conflicts among the countries, but could not eliminate them.

Seeing the distribution map of the power of each country, Franz are speechless, completely intertwined, for example: Togo area British only a few hundred strongholds, but they just rely on not leaving.

There is no way, this era of the British Empire in the sea is so cattle, even if Austria in the local dominance, but also can not expel them out.

Franz did not feel unbalanced in his heart, diplomacy is within the range of artillery, explicitly can not move the British colonies, is not secretly not the next black hand?

Don’t look at the Gulf of Guinea countries crisscrossed, thought the countries scramble very intense, in fact, that’s just Britain played the role of stirring up shit, don’t want to see the Austrian domination of the Gulf of Guinea, only to make so many countries to hold Austria.

If there is no such a large number of countries in the power of the local strength alone, the possibility of being squeezed out of the Gulf of Guinea is very large, after all, their advantages are in the sea, to the land will not be able to.

Unless they hunker down in their colonial strongholds and don’t come out, once they go out to carry out colonization activities, they may encounter danger. This is the African continent, and it is not unusual for accidents to happen.

In order to avoid such a situation, the government in London invited all the countries to divide the Gulf of Guinea together. In any case, they all got the biggest share of the benefits, Franz naturally will not do things out of order.

Don’t look at the strength of the countries in this area is not strong, but it also represents the face of everyone, directly expel them, Austria also do not need to mix in the international community.

……

Metternich said, “Your Majesty, the Anglo-Polish War has broken out, and the Russians want us to support their actions.”

Support, it has to be supported! At least verbal support, no matter how restless the Russian’s were, as long as they didn’t mess with the European continent, Franz didn’t care.

Originally, the West African negotiations were at a standstill, and the British, with their naval superiority, were not likely to admit defeat easily, but as a result, when the Russians made their move, they immediately gave in.

Now is the key moment for the British to put the Indian colonies in their pockets, the Russians jumped the Persians to occupy Herat, the motives still need to be doubted?

Without the French as a battering ram, and the possibility of going up against the Russians on land, even with a first-hand advantage, the London government up and down did not dare to take it lightly.

Franz thought for a moment and said, “The tsarist government is looking for bad luck with the British, which just facilitates our expansion overseas, what kind of support do they want?”

Metternich replied calmly, “In addition to diplomatic support, they also want a loan.”

“Loan” again, Franz understood why the German-Russian alliance collapsed in history. It wasn’t that Wilhelm II’s government was stupid, it was that they couldn’t afford to support the Russians.

The German Empire was doing very well, and seemed to be very rich, but in fact, as a new empire, they did not have much money at all.

No amount of economic development could change the fact that they were short of money. In the era of the gold standard, the rival British controlled most of the world’s gold, and the German government had to be careful when it wanted to issue more money.

The size of the economy on the market is to, but unfortunately the government reserves are insufficient, the currency issued to meet their own needs is good, there is not much money to give the Russians loans.

In order to hold the British, Franz decided to admit it, thought for a moment and said, “The Foreign Office and the Russians talked, if the loan amount is small can be promised to them, but there must be collateral.”

Huge loans are impossible, the Vienna government is not rich, that is, even if the loan to limit the use of conditions, not.

Blindly increase the issue of currency things, Franz can not dare to brute force, even if there are enough gold reserves can not, a large number of currency influx into the market will cause inflation. Even if the economics of bad, this point of common sense he still knows.

Metternich explained: “Your Majesty, this war the tsarist government should not personally, so their funding gap will not be too large.

The victory in the Near Eastern War made many people in the Tsarist government drift though. But there were also many knowledgeable people who recognized their own strength, they wanted to push for serfdom reform, and they were supported by Nicholas I.

After the end of the war, Nicholas I was ready to give all the soldiers the status of freeman, but the nobles used the excuse of insufficient compensation to join forces to back.

Now that the reformists and conservatives are at loggerheads, it will be difficult for the Tsarist government to focus on foreign expansion in a short period of time.”

Franz asked with concern, “Is it possible for the tsarist government to use the opportunity of the war to divert domestic attention and carry out serfdom reform?”

After a few moments of contemplative effort, Metternich replied, “Your Majesty, it is almost impossible. The Tsarist government is now in great financial difficulties, and they cannot raise so much money for the war.

India is the most important colony of the British, the government in London cannot give it up easily, and this war is a protracted one once it breaks out.

The Czarist government cannot possibly know this, and what they are doing now is nothing more than giving the British a hard time and delaying their annexation of India.”

Obviously the Czarist government also knows the strength of the British, as the biggest competitor, if they don’t pull back, is it still an enemy?

Launching a proxy war, is a good choice, successful certainly big profit, failure does not matter, sell teammates things the tsarist government is also very experienced.

(End of chapter)