Chapter 326: Global Cruise
Chapter 316 – Global Cruise
Have to say that the colonial department chose a good time, Britain and the United States around the Central American struggle can be extended to ten years ago, because each other hold stabbing, who did not take advantage.
In order to fully suppress the Indian rebellion, the British overseas to carry out a limited strategic contraction. 1859 London government made concessions, gave up the sphere of influence in Central America.
Originally, Southern radicals in the United States were prepared to incorporate Central America as a slave state, although this was opposed by Northern business owners.
The conflict between the North and the South also began with the Mexican-American War, which was triggered by the seizure of large tracts of Mexican land.
The plantation owners in the South, wanted to turn these areas into slave states, and the industrial owners in the North demanded that these areas be turned into free states.
The dispute over interests could not be negotiated, and the North-South conflict became public.
The economic crisis of 1857 exacerbated this conflict. Northern capitalists demanded higher tariffs to protect their markets, while Southern planters demanded lower tariffs for agricultural exports.
Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t just import tariffs on industrial and commercial goods that the Northern capitalists wanted to raise, they also demanded higher tariffs on agricultural exports so that they could get cheap raw materials.
Cutting off people’s money is like killing their parents. Naturally, the plantation owners in the South could not tolerate this; it was a direct cut in their favor to exploit agriculture in return for industry.
As for the abolition of slavery, it was actually just an excuse for the outbreak of war. If it was only for the abolition of slavery, as long as the government was willing to pay a compensation, most slave owners could still accept it.
The bonded laborers, anyway, didn’t cost much more than the slaves. There are quite a few labor export companies currently active in the US, and they can still easily get enough cheap labor.
Obviously, the Northern capitalists wasted so much effort, but not just to free the slaves, and everyone’s moral fiber was not yet so high.
Turning the South into a source of raw materials and a dumping ground for industrial and commercial products was their ultimate goal.
Because it was clear to both sides that there would be no détente, the Southern plantation owners historically chose to strike first when the political struggle failed.
Now both the North and South are working for the election, and have already made a lot of noise, and do not have the energy to take into account the Central American region.
Against this background, Austria penetrated deeper into the tentacles. Of course this movement is very small and remains in commercial activities.
If the American civil war does not break out, there is no doubt that the Austrian forces that have not yet stabilized, is not able to dry the Americans, the colonial department is also considered to be in the gamble.
Austria is different from Britain and France, no foothold in the Americas, want to intervene in the American civil war, must be prepared in advance.
The army can wait, the navy absolutely can not be absent.
Southern plantation owners are absolutely not willing to yield to the northern capitalists, as long as the sea transportation corridor is preserved, so that the plantation owners see that the European countries stand behind them, they will not easily surrender.
Despite the huge gap between the strength of the North and the South, this gap could be narrowed. With European countries providing logistics, they could instead gain the upper hand in terms of weaponry.
To put it bluntly, it was now the age of great navigation. A ship can transport several thousand tons at once, and a round trip to North America is only a few months.
As long as the support of the major European powers is obtained, replenishing tens of thousands of tons of weapons and ammunition every month is not a problem.
The current United States is not yet the American Empire of the latter days, and is still just a loser. They do not have the ability to produce tens of thousands of tons of ammunition every month.
If the European countries blocked the supply of materials to the northern government again, the northern government’s advantage would only be manpower.
The manpower advantage was not insurmountable, the southern government had money, they could use cotton and tobacco as collateral for loans and recruit mercenaries in Europe.
If people were a little more shameless, they could first impersonate the southern navy and cripple the northern navy, and then sneak attack the northern coastal cities from time to time.
Don’t even need to land, just shoot dozens of tons of shells into the cities every day and it won’t take long for the northern economy to be finished.
What the final outcome would be, Franz was not a prophet and could not be sure. Anyway, the longer the war went on, the wider the reach, the harder it would be for the United States to recover after the war.
The power of hatred can never be underestimated, and when the North and South are stained with each other’s blood, even if they are barely unified, they will not be at peace.
Franz asked, “How long before the newly built Bavaria, Lombardy, Württemberg, Hessen, and Saxony can be commissioned?”
The naming rights of these warships were also sold by the Admiralty, and the governments of the states assumed one-third of the funds for the construction of the ships to get the naming rights.
Even Franz encouraged the state governments to build their own navies, but unfortunately everyone was not falling for it. They were all dry ducks, and they didn’t even have access to the sea, so how could they arouse everyone’s interest?
The willingness to pay extra money to sponsor a navy was all for face-saving. You can’t have a navy for all the other states, but not for you.
As it happens, these several states of the New Holy Roman Empire are not poor, and they can easily take out more than 100,000 divine shields.
So under the compulsion of the Ministry of Navy, the governments of these states paid out a sponsorship fee, making the size of the New Holy Roman Empire Navy a little bit bigger.
After the completion of these iron armor ships, Austria jumped into the world’s third naval power after Britain and France.
The total tonnage of the navy also crossed the 100,000 tons mark, and also has ten ironclads, became the world’s largest number of ironclads country.
Of course, this advantage could not be maintained for long. After a few months at most, it would be overtaken again by the British; within a year or two, it would be overtaken again by the French.
A naval arms race? Franz is not ready to play on, now these ships are built, mainly for sale.
As soon as the Civil War broke out, he would sell some of them to the Southern government at a high price, and of course selling them to the Northern government was also possible.
The best option is to let the Americans kill each other, and it is necessary to maintain the balance of power between the two sides.
As for how much of an advantage the North had and how surely it would have won, that’s actually pretty much bullshit. Just look at how long the Civil War was fought, how could it have been fought for four years if the strength of both sides was extended.
The North’s advantage was in industry and population, the South’s advantage was military. The capitalists didn’t have the courage to carry the guns into battle themselves, but the plantation owners did.
The United States was a nation of immigrants, and there was not much popular identification. Most of the popular enlistment propagated by Americans in later times was actually enlisted in large numbers.
Especially the new immigrants, originally is the Revolutionary period, in order to avoid the war to run over, and now want to let them go to war, can be willing to be strange!
“Your Majesty, the Bavaria is expected to be completed by the end of this year, the remaining ships won’t be able to be completed until the beginning of next year, and it will take until around May next year for all of these warships to be commissioned.” Navy Minister Philcox replied
Taking stock, Franz realized that this was still plenty of time. No matter how much of a butterfly effect, the American Civil War could not be fought in a few months, and there was still time for the Austrian Navy to rush over there.
“The Admiralty’s global cruise program can be launched, sending seven ironclads to visit the world, starting with the Asian region, then going to the Americas, and finally returning to visit the European countries.”
Brushing the sense of presence, it is better to rush to the overseas countries, so as not to stimulate the sensitive nerves of the European countries.
When this lap is finished, this batch of warships is also almost sold, then in the return to Europe, it will not be eye-catching.
(End of chapter)