Chapter 290: Reflection
Chapter 280 Reflection
After the war in Central Asia broke out, the Persian government realized that it had been screwed by the Russians, or rather by the bureaucrats in the Tsarist government.
The so-called aid was indeed given, only that it was so much slower in action and discounted in quantity.
Small problems that were insignificant in normal times became big problems in wartime, and due to the lack of support, the Persian army on the battlefield was overwhelmed by the British from the start.
For the sake of its own security, the Persian government decided to introduce a third power to balance the power of Britain and Russia and end the war as soon as possible.
Unfortunately the Persian government officials were not very bright and found the Americans in the first place in an attempt to utilize the power of the Americans to balance the British and the Russians.
Unfortunately, this era of the United States, is not the latter days of the bullish United States, the Americas may still have a little bit of power of speech on the issue, to Central Asia who knows them ah?
See Britain and Russia attitude forced, just want to share the privilege of the Americans, naturally in the first time on the goat. Of course, no one listens to them.
Forced to do nothing, the Persian government once again looked to the European continent, to France and Austria to seek help.
Vienna.
Metternich handed Franz a piece of paperwork and said, “Your Majesty, this is a diplomatic note from the Persian government asking us to mediate this Central Asian war.”
After going over it once, Franz shook his head and said, “Reject the Persian government, we have no need to participate in the affairs of the Persian region for the time being.”
The Vienna government also wants to let Britain and Russia in Central Asia, this time to run over to mediate, is not fed up with it?
As for the economic benefits promised by the Persian government, in fact, for Austria, also very chicken ribs. At present, Austria’s fist product in international trade is refined agricultural products, but also exports a small amount of industrial products and machinery and equipment.
The Persians are self-sufficient in food and cannot afford to buy Austrian processed agricultural products. The Persians are still a traditional feudal dynasty, the demand for industrial products and machinery and equipment is not large, and have to face the British you competition, there is not much profit at all.
Before the Suez Canal was dug, Franz was not prepared to participate in the affairs of the Persian region. If he had that kind of effort, he might as well infiltrate the Arabian Peninsula, at least have the Sinai Peninsula as a stronghold.
“Yes, Your Majesty!” Metternich replied.
Apparently, he wasn’t interested in interfering in Persian affairs either. Perhaps it was because he had gotten conservative in his old age, or perhaps it was simply from a profit perspective.
None of this mattered, in the context of the constant push for reform, Franz still needed the conservatives to come out and pull the brakes, or else it would be disastrous if he spiked out of line all of a sudden.
Many old empires tend to die faster the more they reform, mainly because they do not grasp the degree. The need for strong medicine, that is already half dead, only to carry out the backwater battle.
Obviously, the new Holy Roman Empire has not reached that point, next door to the Ottoman Empire is really need to take a strong medicine, since the loss of the Balkan Peninsula is dying.
Navy Minister Philcox proposed: “Your Majesty, Kofu Island has always been known as the gateway to Venice, not to take this Adriatic Sea can not be considered truly safe.
Even though the British have only included the Ionian Islands as a protectorate and have not stationed heavy forces, the potential threat is still there, and we must wait for an opportunity to take this place.”
Strength is always the best base, and with the commissioning of the Frederick, the Austrian Navy had begun to press on to take the Gateway Lands.
Franz nodded and said, “This issue is still a bit troublesome to deal with right now, but the Ministry of Foreign Affairs can first get in touch with the British to see if it can be sold to us.
As far as I know, it seems that the local population is very uncomfortable with the British, and the puppet government that they are supporting in the area is not popular, so if necessary, we can plan for local people to riot.”
Whether the British would let it go or not, Franz was not worried. Once the Indian rebellion broke out, the British government couldn’t even think of not compromising.
It was only that the fish and the bear’s paw couldn’t have it both ways, and after getting this place, there was no way to exchange interests with the British in other areas.
Metternich replied, ”Your Majesty, if it’s just one Kofu Island, the British will most likely let it go, and they are still worried about us taking advantage of the fire against the Ottoman Empire.
Recently the British Foreign Ministry and the French have been in frequent contact, there is a high possibility that they are pulling the French in to stop us from expanding our power in the Mediterranean.”
Kofu is just one of the Ionian Islands, very important to Austria, but that’s all it is to the British.
The government in London had not stationed a heavy force on the island since it was granted protection there in 1815. On the one hand, in order not to irritate Austria, and on the other hand, there was really no need.
As for besieging Austria? Why bother going to your doorstep when you can do it either in Malta or in the Strait of Gibraltar?
Every additional military base is accompanied by huge military expenses. The London government is wealthy, but they are not stupid.
Prime Minister Felix said, “There is not much room for expansion in the Mediterranean, and the remaining area is either British and French territory or the Ottoman Empire’s sphere of influence.
The Vienna system has just been established and is still very fragile, and any action we take at this time must be done carefully.”
Naval Minister Philcox analyzed, “The Egyptian region cannot be touched, this is an agreement we made with Britain and France and cannot be violated.
Morocco we have already given up, Algeria is in the pocket of the French, Tunisia is likewise regarded as meat on the table by Napoleon III, if we don’t want to clash with the French, none of these regions can be touched.
The Ottoman Empire’s mainland, not to mention, if we really defeat them, will only be cheap Russian, for us is not worth the loss.
The most strategic place left is Crete. Occupying this place extends our sphere of influence to the Aegean Sea, and also increases our voice in the Mediterranean.”
As for Cyprus it is only of strategic value to the Ottoman Empire now, for Austria perhaps it will take the middle to late next century to see the strategic value.
Libya, not to mention, the desert country is not a name for nothing, the total population is only 500,000 or 600,000 nomads, Britain and France have not expanded here, not because of the lack of strength, mainly because of the lack of value.
The elite of the same era, everyone’s vision is similar, Britain and France can not see the eye of the place, the Vienna government is naturally not interested.
Franz said as if nothing had happened, “The Ottoman Empire’s finances are very bad, and if they hadn’t sold the rest of the Balkan Peninsula to the French, it is estimated that they would not even be able to pay back the interest.
Now that the Sultan’s government is reforming, it must be very short of money, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs can get in touch with them to buy or lease Crete and the Cyprus region.
If they are willing to sell the suzerainty of the Libyan region, they can also take it down. In the future, maybe we can build a railroad to connect from Libya to the Gulf of Guinea, which will be very helpful to our consolidation of local rule.”
It’s useless to say anything else, what foreseeing the future and strategic vision, that’s all something only a brainwashed person would do. Without the protagonist’s aura, they were all the kind that wouldn’t survive more than three episodes.
It was okay to use it to fool ordinary people, but to fool the elites of this era, it was better not to dream about it. People will only come to one conclusion – the emperor is crazy!
Speaking directly to the interests that everyone can see is the most useful. If you can not let everyone convinced, forced to go brute force, then be prepared to be a widow, or the kind of at any time may be the rebellion of the family.
As it is now, Franz considers the Congo Basin to be Austria’s most valuable colony, while the Vienna government considers the Gulf of Guinea to be Austria’s most valuable colony.
Knowing that, Franz was not prepared to convince everyone.
The benefits of the Gulf of Guinea were visible and would be profitable in another year or two, while the Congo Basin would not see a return without three or five years of continuous investment.
The future is the most ridiculous, the international situation is changing rapidly, the future of the colony is unknown, talk about what development prospects?
European countries treat colonies with the same attitude, short-term profitability of the colonies, that is good land, can not get the revenue of the region that is bad land.
Archduke Louis objected: “Your Majesty, we do not need to invest too much energy in the Mediterranean region, in addition to the Kofu Island other areas are very chicken ribs.
They have little strategic value and no economic value. Why don’t we take the opportunity to develop our power towards the Pacific region, not long ago there was news from the Far East that Britain and France are preparing for a big operation, we can also take part in it.”
Franz shook his head and said, “How much benefit can we get by following Britain and France?
One round trip by the Navy to the Far East will take a year, and with the time of the war, it won’t take two years.
If we have this time, we might as well continue to open up colonies on the African continent. It’s not in our favor to stretch the battle line too long, and the benefits that we can hold onto are the real benefits.”
This was not a good reason, but it was to everyone’s liking. There were no radicals in the Vienna cabinet, and Franz thought he was radical enough; if a few more radicals were added to the Vienna government, something was going to happen.
Throughout the history of the world, all countries where radicals have ruled have ended in tragedy. Even if it is successful, it is only a momentary success, and in the end, it is inevitable to lose the money with interest.
Just like now, if the radicals are in charge, who will use diplomatic means, long ago directly reckless up.
In the view of many people, bullying the Ottoman Empire is just, there is absolutely no need to worry.
In reality? In the continuous expansion of land grabbing at the same time, the number of enemies is also more and more, behind every success, are closer to failure.
The tolerance of all countries has a bottom line, the history of the first world war, not just because countries saw the threat of Germany, and started the war.
More or Germany’s continuous expansion, provoked the nerve of the countries, once or twice involved in the interests of not big, everyone will tolerate, ten or eight times after, what else to say, of course, is to beat the hell out of him.
If the government of William II can hold back, not to stimulate the British, a few more years to play grandchildren, the situation will be so bad?
The answer is: no!
As long as the Germans do not blindly expand their navy and do not rush to pull Italy on board. Then the outside world, the German-Austrian alliance and the Franco-Russian pact is evenly matched, out of the continental balance of Europe strategy, John Bull is not likely to personally down.
Other circumstances do not guarantee, more than ten years can still be done.
Ten years means what? This means that Germany’s national strength can be further, the population can be increased by 10 million, the advantage of salty France will be more obvious, the western front of the war of attrition the French simply can not afford to fight.
It also means that the Russian Empire is even more weakened, internal conflicts are more intense, and the pressure on the Eastern Front becomes less intense.
Under one increase and one decrease, even if they are not able to achieve complete victory, they can still defeat France and Russia, forcing the British to compromise and share world hegemony.
There is no such thing as history. The radical Junker aristocrats single-handedly created the glory of the Second German Empire, but also single-handedly buried it.
(End of chapter)