Chapter 378: Falling Down the Well

  Chapter 368: Falling down the well

Not only was the London government trying to find ways to help the Prussians raise money, the French were likewise not idle. But instead of raising money, they were busy pulling the wool over their eyes.

When it came to developing the economy, Napoleon III could well be described as excellent. In the last ten years or so, the French economy had been growing at a high rate.

This was especially evident in the finances, where in 1851 France’s revenues amounted to 1.273 billion francs, and by 1864 France’s revenues were close to 2 billion francs.

This is still did not calculate the results of the Kingdom of Sardinia, otherwise it can be increased by a few hundred million, Italy’s most prosperous region, is not blown out of proportion.

After joining the French family, the market problem that plagued the capitalists in Sardinia was finally solved, and the local economy began to develop rapidly.

Naturally there are advantages and disadvantages, the French capitalists also killed over. Sardinia’s weak local capital, obviously can not do the French capital, can only use the advantage of the local snake to fight with them.

These fights, all in the case of great economic development was covered up. After all, earned more money, even if the competition is more cruel, but the waist bag can not deceive people.

Nearly 2 billion francs of revenue, equivalent to nearly 80 million pounds sterling, while at this time the United Kingdom’s revenue is less than 70 million pounds sterling, the two sides of the income gap as high as 10 million pounds sterling.

Of course, this does not mean that the French economic strength has exceeded the British. The financial revenue of all countries in this era, are only the local financial revenue, did not calculate the income of the colonies.

And also have to consider the financial distribution of the central government and local government, different tax methods, also affect the level of revenue.

However, these figures can still prove that the French economy was developing rapidly. Before Napoleon III succeeded to the throne, France’s revenue was lower than that of Britain, but now it had already surpassed it.

With the substantial increase in revenue, the Parisian government not only got rid of the financial crisis, but also had the ability to play franc diplomacy.

The ability to support Prussia economically and Napoleon III’s desire to replace the Russians as the hegemon of the continent did not mean that the French really wanted to support Prussia.

Within the French government there have always been two voices as to whether or not to support Prussia in this war:

A part of the people advocated to aid the Kingdom of Prussia, to receive their hands will be the Russians to hit the Russians, to lay the foundation for France to seize the hegemony of the continent.

Another part of the people advocate to sit and watch the Prussian defeat, so as to take advantage of the opportunity to seize the Rhineland region, increase the industrial strength of France, to make up for the lack of resources.

Of course, both advocates must be Prussia and Russia to fight, so before the outbreak of the war the French government was in favor of Prussia, and even assisted in advance an interest-free loan of 50 million francs.

Now that the war has broken out, to continue to support or not to continue to support, and has become the focus of contention between the two sides.

Finance Minister Allen proposed: “The strength gap between Prussia and Russia is too large, even with our support, but also can not change the outcome of the war. Continuing to invest valuable funds in the Prussian government is a waste.

Now that our strategic purpose has been achieved, the Prussian-Russian war has broken out. There is no need to do anything, just wait to receive the Rhineland region after the war.”

Foreign Minister Abraham objected, “No, this is the time when the Russians are at their weakest. Even if the Kingdom of Prussia is a little weaker, they still have gathered more than seven hundred thousand troops.

Coupled with the outbreak of the Polish independence movement, which has held back a large amount of Russian troops, the Tsarist government may not have the ability to defeat the Kingdom of Prussia in one fell swoop.

As long as the war lasted, the Russians would terminate their domestic reforms because of the war.

This was what all European countries wanted to see, and the government in Vienna would not provide much support to the Russians at this time. If the war can drag on for a year or two, the Tsarist government will be defeated without defeat at the end of the day because of its finances.”

Finances were the Russians’ shortcoming, and Alexander II’s reforms were underway, and the social dividends from the reforms hadn’t yet had time to feed back into the revenues.

Because the Near Eastern wars had consumed so much financial resources, the end of Nicholas I’s reign was all about wiping out the war losses, and did not leave Alexander II with enough reserves to sustain a major war.

It was by seeing the Russians’ shortcomings that the Junker nobles dared to plan the war. It was likewise because of this that the British supported Prussia.

Allen, the Minister of Finance, shook his head and said, “What happened to the 700,000 troops of the Kingdom of Prussia, need we say more? The ones with fighting power are at most 400,000 or so, and the rest are just those who picked up guns to make up the numbers.

The only European countries that can afford to take out 700,000 troops are us, Russia, and Austria. The Kingdom of Prussia, even as militaristic as they are, their national power constrains the upper limit of their military power.

The Russians, on the other hand, have more than a million active troops, and to defeat the Kingdom of Prussia, they can even mobilize without doing so.

Putting aside the Russian-Austrian alliance, the government in Vienna would have given them loans as long as the Tsarist government promised Austria heavy benefits, which were cut out of the Prussians anyway.

Austria’s financial power was not far behind, if not better than ours, and it was enough to support the Russians in defeating Prussia.

Besides, is it true that the Russian Empire has no reserves? As an old empire, the Tsarist government could still scrape together a billion or so francs for the war if it wanted to.

To pin your hopes on the Russians’ financial collapse, I think it’s more practical to pray that God will bless the Prussians to pull through.”

The prerequisite for supporting the Kingdom of Prussia was that they could win, or at least be able to hit the Russians hard enough for the investment to be considered not in vain.

If the Kingdom of Prussia is taken care of by the Russians in three, five or two blows, all of this investment will have been wasted. Don’t expect a defeated Prussia to be able to pay off its debts, whether or not they can keep the country depends on whether or not the countries will continue to support them.

……

What the public says is true, what the public says is true. The indecisive Napoleon III had a headache, both points of view were very valid and it was really hard to make a decision.

The debate continued for many days before Napoleon III made up his mind.

“Well, I have decided to give a loan to the Kingdom of Prussia, but they will have to use the sovereignty of the Rhineland region as collateral to secure our loan.”

This was a compromise that supported the Kingdom of Prussia in continuing the war, while creating an excuse to seize the Rhineland.

The Kingdom of Prussia won the war, then the strategy of hitting the Russians hard was realized, bringing France one step closer to continental supremacy. Conversely, a defeated Kingdom of Prussia was left with no money to pay its debts, and they could simply take the collateral.

On the face of it this was the best option, and no matter what the outcome of the war was, they would not lose out. In reality, it was just wishful thinking on the part of Napoleon III.

There was no way the European nations would watch them succeed. The British did not want to see the birth of a continental hegemon, the Russians falling from the position of hegemon, and France, Austria, and Russia holding each other back so that no one could gain an overwhelming advantage was what they wanted to see.

Geopolitical relations, even if Franz is not prepared to the European continent, he likewise will not let the French become the new hegemon.

Spain, Belgium, Switzerland, the Italian states, the German Federal Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia, the good neighbors of the French, the same is not willing to see the French once again strengthened.

The mutual defense treaty against France was the best weapon to contain them. How could a country that was hostile to its neighbors become the hegemon of Europe?

By strength alone? It seems that the French are not that powerful. The Russians can assert their supremacy with a million-man army, the French will never be able to do that.

What’s a hegemon without a little brother? Unless they have the power to roll over the continent, they can only play at home behind closed doors.

……

Berlin, Wilhelm I did not yet know that a quarrel had just taken place in Paris that would decide their fate. The Austro-Prussian War that broke out on the European continent was nothing like the historical Russo-Japanese War.

The power that the Russians could put here would never be more than two or three layers. If there is only British support, the London government will be equally overwhelmed.

With a little luck, supporting the Kingdom of Prussia with a few tens of millions of pounds will achieve the goal, and it would not be surprising at all if bad luck ended up costing hundreds of millions of pounds.

Even if it is a loan, we have to consider whether the Kingdom of Prussia can afford to pay it back. In short, it was impossible for the London government to meet all the needs of the Prussians.

Recently the Berlin government has applied for loans from almost every European country, a mosquito is still meat, even if some small countries are only able to provide loans of tens of thousands of pounds, they do not mind.

Foreign Minister McKnight frowned and said: ”Just this morning, the Swiss government informed us that the joint defense treaty between the two countries was officially dissolved, and tomorrow they will announce it to the outside world.

It happened so suddenly that the Swiss government struck a surprise attack, leaving no time for us to undo it. It looks like they are determined to draw the line with us.”

This is obviously not good news; the Prussian-Swiss Joint Defense Treaty was undoubtedly aimed at Austria. Historically it was only dissolved in 1866, when Austria lost the Austro-Prussian War and was in no position to plot against the Swiss region again.

Switzerland now suddenly wants to dissolve the joint defense treaty, there must be an inside story here. They don’t even need to think about it to know that it is the handiwork of the Vienna government.

William I sighed and said: “Forget it, we can no longer care about these small problems. The top priority is still the Russo-Prussian War, and now the troops on the front line have already exchanged fire with the Russians.

None of the financial aid promised by Britain and France has arrived on time. The next focus of the Foreign Ministry is to coordinate with Britain and France to make them fulfill their promises as soon as possible.”

There was no way around it, pitting teammates seemed to be a natural aptitude of the British and French. The London government didn’t coordinate with the domestic consortium in advance and is still trying to find ways to help them raise money; the French government is delaying the fundraising progress because of the tug-of-war.

In the face of life and death, the Swiss dissolution of the joint defense treaty against Austria is not worth mentioning at all.

William I very understand the Swiss government’s approach, now Prussia is playing with fire, the Swiss are worried about drawing fire is normal.

In case Austria was dragged down because of the Russo-Austrian alliance, wouldn’t they also be dragged into the war because of the Joint Defense Treaty?

The status of Eternal Neutral Nation was hard won, and it was hard to get it recognized by all countries. If they were dragged down, the French could all annex the Kingdom of Sardinia, and Austria could likewise annex Switzerland.

Switzerland and the Habsburg family is a feud is not true, but the gap between the strength of the two sides is too large, the Swiss government simply can not afford to have the courage to go to war with Austria.

The government of Vienna asked them to dissolve the Treaty of Union and Defense, and the Swiss government naturally accepted the request. Anyway, since the outbreak of the Russo-Prussian War, even if the existence of the Treaty of Defense, but also can not play any role.

Understanding, William I was still very angry at the Swiss government’s fall from grace. Only they really do not have the energy to care so much, all the problems have to wait until the war is won to talk about, lose everything will be over.

Foreign Minister McKnight replied confidently, “Don’t worry, Your Majesty. Britain and France will not watch us lose the war due to lack of funds, and now they are stalling for nothing more than fearing that we will lose the war and let the investment go down the drain.

As long as we are not defeated on the battlefield, the aid they promised will be honored, the big deal is to pay us in installments.”

As the vanguard of the anti-Russian faction, McKnight has always believed that the Russian empire is rotten and that all it takes is a push for this empire to come crashing down.

The Polish uprising that broke out not long ago, which took the Russians more than two months to not only fail to quell, but instead intensified, spreading the fighting to the Belarusian region, which again solidified McKnight’s judgment.

These perceptions were very different from those of William I, but since they were going to fight the Russians, it was natural to replace them with these confident anti-Russians.

How could the war be fought if a bunch of Russophobes were appointed who thought of compromising with the Russians every day?

(End of chapter)