Chapter 367: The Truth That’s Getting Farther and Farther Away
Chapter 357 The Truth of Getting Farther and Farther Away
Early in the morning of October 25, 1864, Franz, who had just woken up from his sleep, was stunned by the news that the Prussian government had declared war on the Kingdom of Denmark.
To be precise, war had been declared between the two countries yesterday afternoon. It was late at night when the news reached Vienna, and the quick-witted staff delayed reporting it until Franz was up.
The two countries had suddenly gone to war without a single sign. As for the Prussian “liberation of German compatriots” as a pretext for the declaration of war, directly ignored by Franz.
War excuses have on the line, the history of the Prussians also carry the flag of the maintenance of German sovereignty, in Franz’s butterfly effect, the Berlin government no longer dare to resist this flag.
With the revival of Austria, “German unity” related slogans, slogans, gradually disappeared from the official documents of the Prussian government.
Especially after the Paris Conference, both the Kingdom of Prussia and the newly established German Federal Empire tacitly suppressed the idea of German unification.
No one was a fool; if they continued to propagate it, they were doing Austria a favor.
Once the idea of the Great Unification became deeply rooted in the people’s minds, they became the objects to be unified. To the people, unification might be a good thing, but to the rulers, it would be a completely different story.
Don’t look at the new Holy Roman Empire in the state governments have a lot of power, but compared with their own head of state, the ruler’s power is still drastically reduced.
The international agreement of the Paris Conference to split up the German region became the legal basis for Prussia’s secession from the German region.
Legally, the Kingdom of Prussia was an independent state like Belgium, the Netherlands and Switzerland.
Now, if we continue to carry the banner of safeguarding the sovereignty of the German region, isn’t it telling the outside world that the Kingdom of Prussia is still a part of Germany, and giving Austria a legal basis for annexing them?
The Berlin government would not do such a stupid thing. The reason for liberating our fellow Germans, though a little stifled, was better than planting a political bomb.
The Prussian-Danish War involved the duchies of Schleswig-Holstein, and the government of Vienna had to take a stand.
After a brief breakfast, Franz held a cabinet meeting in the palace.
Foreign Minister Weissenberg analyzed, “Your Majesty, according to the intelligence we have gathered, we can initially judge that this war was premeditated by the Prussians, including the Polish Independence Movement that happened not long ago, which was not unrelated to them.
The Berlin government dared to declare war on the Kingdom of Denmark, which most likely has the shadow of Britain and France, they want to use this opportunity to strike the Russians.
Now the situation of the Tsarist government was very bad, the reforms in the country were still in progress, the war in Central Asia had already started, and the Polish independence movement had broken out again.
With so many things happening at the same time, it was difficult for the Tsarist government’s finances to support another big war.
If they interfered in the Pudan War, Britain and France would support Prussia to fight a proxy war with them, further depleting their national strength and interrupting the reforms of the Tsarist government.
If the Tsarist government chose to concede, then their international reputation would also plummet. Unable to keep Denmark as their little brother, the Russians would not be in a position to claim themselves as the hegemon of the European continent.
Whichever choice the Tsarist government made, there would be a huge price to pay.
Perhaps the British were more inclined to fight a proxy war to weaken the Russians; the French were more interested in taking the opportunity to pull the Russians from their position of hegemony.”
Analyzing the situation from the bright side, when the Prussian government suddenly declared war on the Kingdom of Denmark, it must be that Britain, France and Prussia had colluded together, otherwise where would the Prussian government have the courage to challenge the Russians.
The Junker nobles took matters into their own hands, those in the know totaled just a few people, and none of these people could possibly spread the word outside.
Including many people in the Prussian military, they all thought that this was an action planned by the king, the cabinet and the military together, and no one even thought that this was a decision made by the military high command on their own.
Of course, it was only the top brass who planned this operation to close the most basic loopholes. If it had been planned by the lower echelons of the army, it is likely that they would have foolishly launched the attack with the slogan “For the unity of the German nation”.
This is also Franz did not notice the Prussian movement in advance, otherwise he would have kept the secret line, shouting the slogan of unity of Germany to attack the Danes.
Who can think of the political implications of this slogan if they are not politically astute. As long as it was hot-blooded and inspiring, it would be fine!
Political propaganda slogans can not be shouted indiscriminately, once the slogan is shouted out, it can not be put back.
Prime Minister Felix asked suspiciously: “But why did the Prussian government take the corn in the fire for Britain and France?
Just for the sake of the two duchies of Schleswig-Holstein, it has formed a deadly enmity with the Russians, and even if the Czarist government can’t care about them now, it will surely retaliate back in the future.
Even if the Prussian government is ruled by anti-Russians, they can’t ignore the power gap between the two countries and blindly enmity with the Russians, right?”
The current situation is different from history, historically the Russians lost their European hegemony in the Crimean War, and the importance of the Kingdom of Denmark to the Tsar’s government has declined to a mere matter of face.
And at this time, the Kingdom of Denmark was not only a matter of face for the Russians, but also their position as European hegemon.
The status of hegemony is not just a matter of strength, but also needs to be recognized by everyone.
A small Prussian kingdom can challenge their hegemony, if it can not be suppressed, what makes the Russian Empire the European hegemon?
Even if Alexander II endured for the sake of domestic reform now, in the future, as long as the Russians wanted to fight for European hegemony, they would have to take the Kingdom of Prussia to sacrifice their flag.
In this respect, the Prussian government’s approach would be very unwise. Even if it gained short-term benefits, the future would be a legacy of disaster.
If they were unlucky, the Czarist government would come to their door regardless. Even with the support of Britain and France, even if they won the war, it would be a great loss of energy.
After Franz brainstormed for a while, he replied: ”I’m afraid that the Prussian government has regarded the Russians as mortal enemies from the very beginning, and it doesn’t matter whether they are offended or not.
I remember that the first target of the Russians’ European expansion strategy was Prussian Poland.
Prussian Poland occupied 46.3% of the land area of the Kingdom of Prussia, and there was no possibility of compromise from the standpoint of the Prussians.
(Note: After the war against France, the Warsaw region of Austro-Prussian Poland fell into the hands of the Russians, although parts of East and West Prussia were also recognized as Prussian Poland by default, and this part of the territory, which did not come from the three wars of partition, canceled out each other.)
Faced with a Russian Empire that was powerful and could turn on them at any time, they had no choice but to turn to Britain and France.
Now the two bosses, to jump out and make trouble for the Russians, the reward was the two duchies of Schleswig-Holstein.
The Berlin government didn’t want to see the Russians succeed in their reforms either, and since there was support for it, it was time to strike first and catch the Russians off guard.
It’s not like they don’t have a chance of winning, if they take the risk of defeating the Russians once, not only can they eat the two duchies, but they can also make Russian Poland independent and become a buffer between the two countries, changing their strategic passivity in one fell swoop.”
Franz’s level of brainstorming was still very good, and there were quite a few people in the Prussian government who thought the same thing, only further and further away from the truth.
The Junker nobles who were responsible for planning the operation can assure you with family honor that they didn’t think that far ahead at all, and were simply fighting for their own interests.
Defeating the Russians was not even in their plans.
Mauch’s strategic plan was also just to defeat the Danes as soon as possible, and then to be able to hold the border fortresses under Russian attack would be enough.
Anyway, with the Tsarist government now a pauper and the conservative opposition to reforms pulling the strings at home, the Russians would collapse without a fight if they just dragged their feet for a few months.
Besides, there was the Polish Independence Organization on top. Before the suppression of the Polish rebellion, the Russian army went out to attack the Kingdom of Prussia, and at any time there was a possibility that the rebels would cut off their back.
In the opinion of many, by the time the Czarist government suppressed the Polish rebellion, the purse strings would have been drained, so where would the money be to continue the war?
How things turned out was not directly causally related to the decisions of the government in Vienna. Even if it was the Prussians who suddenly had a brain fart, that didn’t affect the Austrian decision.
After endeavoring to make himself receptive to the Prussian concept, Prime Minister Felix spoke, “Your Majesty, since Prussia and Russia are going to face each other, then we have to make a choice as well.
The two duchies of Schleswig-Holstein are involved, and we have to support the Prussians in the Prussian-Danish War.
But because of the Russo-Austrian alliance, we have to support the Russians in the war that may break out next.
Now we were also forced to a crossroads, and the choice was a difficult one.
I suggest kicking the ball to the Russians, and if the Russians want Austria’s help, then Russia and Austria divide Prussia.
The Russians get Prussian Poland and we get Prussian Germany. The difference in interest, we can compensate in cash.
If the Russians differ from the terms of the division, then we declare our neutrality and stay out of this Prussian-Russian strife.”
Franz rolled his eyes, this is not a division of Prussia between the two countries, it is clearly for the Russians to take a stand in favor of Austria’s unification of the German region.
Just open the map and realize that if Austria occupied the Prussian German region, the German Federal Empire would be surrounded by Shinra.
If this situation, Franz can not use political means to disintegrate and gradually annex the German Confederation, he is embarrassed to call himself the master of the Habsburg dynasty.
Although the remaining German region was not large in size, most of these lands were rich in resources, developed in industry and commerce, and the level of economic development in the whole of Europe was very advanced.
In addition to the economy, the population of these regions was also quite large. Without Prussian Poland, the remaining half of the Kingdom of Prussia plus the German Federal Empire had a population of seventeen to eighteen million.
Together with the 60 million population of the current New Holy Roman Empire, the merged Shinra Empire directly exceeded the combined population of Britain and France. Counting only the mainland, it also surpassed John Bull in terms of economic output.
Unless the Czarist government had a collective brain fart, this kind of condition was not negotiable at all. To release a Central European giant, isn’t that asking for trouble?
Prime Minister Felix’s real purpose was still to gag the Russians and prevent them from opening their mouths and asking Austria for help.
Otherwise, the Czarist government took the Russian-Austrian alliance covenant, and constantly asked Austria for loans and aid, the Vienna government to give or not to give?
If it gave it, it would easily arouse the resentment of the German nationalists; if it did not give it, it would violate the covenant and would be morally unjustifiable.
Now this question is thrown out, as long as the Russians refuse to support Austria to unify the German region, the Czarist government can not be justified in wanting assistance again.
(End of chapter)