Chapter 359: Mutual Defense Treaty

  Chapter 349 The Mutual Defense Treaty

Interference in the secret formation of the Union Army, the American Civil War still continues. If they know that whoever wins will have to face the suppression of the four major powers, I wonder if the North and South are still not so excited.

Of course, this is just thinking about it. The war has reached this point, in addition to continue to fight, the North and South have no choice.

Thinking about it from another angle, with the four great powers to cover their backs, even if they lost the fight, they did not have to lose their pants, so I guess their minds would be at peace.

At the beginning of the war, all countries supported the Southern government. When the southern government gained the upper hand, in the blink of an eye, everyone sold arms to the northern government.

It was by playing a balancing act between the North and the South that this civil war was able to be fought until now. Otherwise, if the four countries had done everything they could to support one side, they would have won or lost in the first year.

Piecing together, Britain, France, Austria and Spain brought together hundreds of warships and 260,000 troops, which would not have been believed if there had been no advance preparation.

This is only able to use the mobile force, not the four countries in the Americas all the strength.

If you really want to fight, not to mention the British, French and Western countries that have been operating for many years, even if it is just in the Americas not long after the Austrian foothold, are able to put together more than 100,000 soldiers.

Colonial soldiers, this is the major European colonial empires can develop and grow. Otherwise, just rely on government troops to guard the colonies, the British will not cry to death?

Standing army only a hundred thousand British Empire Army, how to guard more than 30 million square kilometers of land?

Including this time the British sent 80,000 troops, most of them are still from the Canadian colonies, from the domestic deployment of troops this cost is too high.

Vienna, received the news of interference in the establishment of the Allied Forces, Franz canceled the plan to transfer troops from Africa and the South Seas.

The strength of the Interventionist Allied Forces was already enough to overturn the power contrast between the two sides. After all, no matter who won or lost, it was impossible to finish off the other side in a short time.

The losers have four countries to cheer and cheer, the opportunity to turn the tide is in front of them, say what they will not directly admit defeat ah!

Historically, the southern government’s rapid defeat in the later stages was mainly because the intervention army that was waiting so hard didn’t show up, and everyone couldn’t see any hope of winning before they surrendered to the northern government.

This is evidenced by the fact that none of the top echelons of the Southern government were liquidated after the war, as proof of the role they played in the later stages of the Civil War.

Don’t look at a few years of fighting a civil war and assume that the elite forces of the North and South were awesome.

In reality, this eliteness is all relative, and it is true that it is a vast improvement over what it was before the outbreak of the Civil War. But when viewed in the context of the world, the U.S. Army is still not good enough.

There was no way around it, there were too many losses in the war, and soldiers were replaced one by one. There was already a shortage of officers at the basic level, and the rate of loss was so fast that there was no time to train them even if they wanted to.

Unqualified base officers and too many recruits were common problems faced by both the North and the South. Originally, at the beginning of the war, the superiority of the fighting strength of the southern government’s army was being gradually leveled out during the war.

By now, it didn’t matter who won or lost between the North and South. In short, neither of them would be the winner.

Franz thought for a moment and said, “Send an order to Governor Hummel as fast as possible, ordering him to speed up the organization of immigration from the United States, it will not be easy when the war is over.”

“Yes, Your Majesty!” Colonial Minister Josip Jelacic replied

The matter of digging into America’s corner is not only Austria doing it, Britain, France and Spain are likewise lulling immigrants in America, only not as vigorously.

Before the introduction of the Homestead Act, Austria was almost invincible in its efforts to lure immigrants. At that time, the main constraints on the speed of immigration is: not enough boats and resettlement takes time.

In this era, the Americas were sparsely populated, the colonies were short of immigrants, and the colonial empires with strong learning ability followed suit.

After Lincoln enacted the Homestead Act, many hesitated. Why risk going out when you could get land if you stayed in the U.S.?

Even if they had to serve in the military, they could have someone take their place. Many labor export companies had the business of substituting people for soldiers, and they only needed to pay two hundred dollars, and then they could not go to the battlefield.

The Civil War has been going on for a long time now, and there are already more than half a million black soldiers on the battlefield, and both the North and the South have organized a huge number of black armies.

Of course, poor people with no money were still the main force of immigrants. Not only could they not afford to hire people for military service, but they also could not afford to clear the land.

After all, cultivation of land also needs cost, no money can buy seeds, Austria at least is to provide interest-free loan services.

If one were to keep count, one would realize that from 1864 onwards, it was almost mainstream to pay people to serve in the army. Black soldiers already outnumber white soldiers among new enlistments in some states.

Don’t be alarmed if you find in a battle that the majority of the combatants are black soldiers, it’s just business as usual.

It is not for nothing that state governments have organized black soldiers in large numbers. The biggest advantage is that they can sign employment contracts with labor companies, so they don’t have the headache of recruiting soldiers, and they don’t have to worry about heavy casualties and family members causing trouble.

Everyone was elected by the people, and in the face of brutal casualties, the people were unwilling to serve, and they couldn’t force the people to serve, unless they didn’t want the votes anymore.

As a good governor and legislator who serves the people, it’s okay to turn a blind eye, and if they really don’t have enough people to make up the numbers, the state government can still hire people from labor companies.

Both the federal government and the confederate government have limited authority. Each state is willing to gather enough people is to give face to the central government, and still want to pick and choose, believe it or not everyone non-violent non-cooperation?

For example, at the height of the American Civil War, the prisons in each state were empty. The bureaucrats had to work very hard to make up the numbers.

Foreign Minister Weissenberg spoke up, “Your Majesty, according to the intelligence we have received, all European countries have plans to colonize the African continent, and Napoleon III is preparing to convene an international conference to divide up the continent.”

The history of dividing up the African continent was brought forward, which was not good news for Austria. Before that, the only two countries focusing on the African continent were France and Austria.

Together with the fact that the French were colonizing and expanding along North Africa, with the desert in between, the French and Austrians didn’t have much conflict on the African continent.

If an international conference is held and all the countries of the world are attracted to it, it will be impossible for Austria to be so stuffy again.

Franz asked suspiciously, “Know what the French are up to?”

Because of historical reasons, the African continent has always had the reputation of “the continent of poisonous insects”, European countries do not attach importance to the African continent, many people regard this place as a barbaric land.

If there is a better choice, Franz is not willing to colonize Africa. Unfortunately, the world has already been divided up, and only this last continent is left.

Currently it was France and Austria that had invested the most in the African continent and gained the most.

It was obviously not in the interest of the French to convene an international conference now and pierce this windowpaper, drawing all the European countries to the African continent.

No one would like to see an increase in the number of people who share the cake, did not enter the table everyone is each by their own means, if the French and Austrians tacitly join forces to exclude competitors, the two points of the African continent are not impossible.

Weissenberg analyzed: “It is not yet certain, the Foreign Ministry speculated that this may have something to do with the Italian issue.

After the annexation of the Kingdom of Sardinia, the French have had a hard time internationally, and countries have strengthened their defenses against them.

Throwing out the African continent now is most likely the Parisian government’s attempt to divert everyone’s diplomatic attention and lower their wariness of them.”

This is the aftermath of being too able to fight, Napoleon III merely annexed a small Sardinian kingdom and caused international unrest, greater than the impact caused by Franz’s rebuilding of the Shenla Empire back then.

I don’t know whether Napoleon III should be proud, or whether he should cry. Being watched day after day, nothing is easy to do!

The Antifa coalition has always been a sharp blade hanging over their heads, and once they step over the line, this coalition, which has long been dissolved, may be revived at any time.

Other than that, just look at the neighbors’ reactions and it’s all clear.

Spain has deployed 100,000 troops on the border between the two countries, which is six layers of their home front.

Belgium deployed 30,000 troops to defend against the French, almost seventy percent of their total domestic strength, as if they had prepared their hearts for a French invasion.

Switzerland, as a neutral country, also had a large number of reserves on standby at the border between the two countries, even against the Habsburgs, a world enemy, were not so defensive.

The Kingdom of Prussia deployed 120,000 troops in the Rhineland, and there were about 150,000 militia reserves there, more than on the Russian-Austrian border combined.

Austria deployed 100,000 troops in Lombardy and 50,000 in Württemberg, and both kingdoms had more than 500,000 militia reserves combined.

The German Federal Empire, because the armies were owned by the state governments and the federal government had no mobilization authority, had only border state armies in the French border area.

However, they have signed a joint defense treaty with Austria, Belgium, Prussia, and Spain, so once the French invade, everyone will join forces to beat the hell out of him.

It is said that the Swiss are ready to join the joint defense treaty, only worried about joining it will lose their status as a neutral country, only delayed action.

The French are having a hard time, and their neighbors are treating them like bandits. With their neighbors defending them as if they were robbers, is an anti-French alliance far away?

All of the above are the aftermath of France’s annexation of the Kingdom of Sardinia, the neighboring countries directly formed a brick wall, cutting off the possibility of their continued expansion.

As for the black hand leading the establishment of this alliance, there is no doubt that of course is the British, as a European shit-stirrer how can not make things happen?

Originally Franz was not prepared to join, with Austria’s strength even if not and the countries joint defense, but also not afraid of the French.

Later, considering the possibility that Napoleon III will have a brain fart, in case of a sudden fight, a few more allies to share the pressure is also good.

The British not only against the French came up with a joint defense treaty, even Austria also enjoyed the same treatment, but the contracting parties as long as Prussia and the German Federal Empire.

Tandem let European countries joint defense, this is John Bull in order to constrain the expansion of France, Austria and Russia three means.

Only because of the existence of the Russian-Austrian alliance, directly let the two countries get rid of this restriction, the French alone enjoy this by the neighbors against the supreme treatment.

It wasn’t easy to break up this alliance, as they were only united in defense and had no plans to attack. If they acted rashly, they would be likely to irritate everyone’s sensitivities, with incalculable consequences.

Franz asked uncertainly, “Do you mean that the French are preparing to use the interests of the African continent to provoke conflicts between the countries, thus breaking the encirclement net against them?”

Foreign Minister Weissenberg replied, “No, I think the French are just sending us a signal.

The interests on the African continent are so big that I don’t think the French will be willing to throw them away so easily.

Besides, there aren’t many countries in the Common Defense contracting parties that have the strength to divide up Africa. Even if we all have a conflict of interest over the colonies, it’s not worth mentioning in front of the security of the homeland.

This joint defense encirclement looks impressive, but in reality, as long as we withdraw, the remaining countries, even if they join forces, will not be able to threaten the French.

Instead of spending a lot of effort to take care of the neighboring countries, it would be easier to just let us withdraw, and it’s impossible for the French to not see that.

Now that they’re releasing this signal out, it’s likely that they’re luring us to take the initiative to come to our door and discuss this series of issues.”

It was a phallic plot, and the French were betting that the Vienna government would not be able to give up the interests of the European continent.

Don’t look at Austria’s rapid expansion in the African continent, but relative to the entire African continent, it still only occupies a small piece of it, and the actual control area is less than one-fifth of the African continent.

This is very much like the style of Napoleon III. All the way to the present, Napoleon III can not be less gambling.

Now this kind of sure win gamble doesn’t count at all, Austria really can’t afford to give up the interests of the African continent. It doesn’t take much, just five more years, Franz can complete the strategic layout of the African continent.

“Then the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will contact the French first, as long as the interests are suitable, there is nothing that cannot be negotiated.”

Franz said calmly, he was not a sore loser. Moreover, Austria was not a loser yet, as long as the desired benefits were in hand, the process did not matter.

France and Austria joining hands to divide the African continent is also a good choice. As for the common defense treaty, that thing can not play a role in the effect, or to use the benefits to speak, the big deal is that when the time comes, it will be canceled.

(End of chapter)