Chapter 417: The Price of Betrayal
Chapter 407: The Price of Betrayal
Looking at the increasing number of casualties, Franz also felt a headache, just as Carlo Ferangeli predicted, Austria also needed to save face.
If it can be exposed to start a fight with the French, then the loss of ten thousand or so is nothing at all, the problem is that right now, Austria is not ready to fight a duel with the French at all.
Once the windowpaper was broken, it was destined for a full-scale war to break out. Localized war does not exist, both sides are unlikely to admit defeat, once the fight will rise to the point of life and death.
The arrogant French will not admit defeat, Napoleon III will have to die to the end; Austria has the population advantage, in the war potential of the upper hand, Franz is even more unlikely to admit defeat.
This means that it is useless to divide the local war into winners and losers, everyone refuses to give in, the war will still continue.
Either fight a three years and five years, who first can not hold out who admit defeat, or both losses end; or directly Stud duel, divided into a life and death out.
None of this can be ended in the short term, in this era of no airplanes, tanks, cars, just rely on two legs marching, blitzkrieg does not exist.
Spell is the comprehensive national strength, open the map to know, France and Austria’s geographic location has been decided, who launched an attack is who suffers.
The Italian region at most half of the Kingdom of Sardinia, this is not the core of the French, the local and a group of tame Italians, occupation of this place does not have any effect.
On the contrary, it increases the pressure of logistical supply, Franz does not think that the Austrian army has the ability to go over the Alps and fight all the way to Paris.
It was more likely to be constrained by logistics and then driven back by the French. After all, the French could fight a war of attrition with the Austrian army here through maritime transportation.
What’s the difference between invading Central Europe, separated by the German Federal Reich and Switzerland, and “borrowing a route”?
Austria could not attack unless the French were induced to do so. Franz did not want to be ostracized, which was not a pleasant experience.
If all these can be tolerated, the most unacceptable thing to Franz is – the cost of the war, the most that can be achieved by winning the French is a war reparation.
Ceded land, Austria can not be enough ah! Moreover, the French land Franz really not interested.
The only bordering Kingdom of Sardinia has not dared to want, or the number of Italians in the country exploded, which is not conducive to national integration and increases the possibility of explosion.
Colonies? When the French and Austrians started to fight, the Austrian navy can be left in the end how much is an unknown, to be able to keep the existing territory to God bless, where there is still the ability to expand?
Even the war reparations, can get is an unknown. In case John Bull intervenes, it may be a waste of time.
Don’t count on the Russo-Austrian alliance, that stuff can’t be relied on. Austria can be in the Russo-Prussian War, the Russians can also be in the Russo-French War, not to mention that the Russians are still in a dead heat with Prussia can not help.
The casualty figure puts the Austrian military to shame without breaking the windowpaper. Continuing on, it was inevitable that casualties would exceed those of the Austro-Saxon War.
Currently the Italian Peninsula’s smell of gunpowder is getting thicker and thicker, France and Austria are both increasing their troops, just one spark away from detonation.
Napoleon III and Franz felt much the same way, or more uncomfortable. To start a fight in the Italian region, Austria’s big deal is futile, the French Balkans will not be protected first.
The French navy is very strong, the Austrian navy is not weak, at least in the Adriatic Sea French navy can not suppress Austria, the Balkan Peninsula on the French army was reduced to a lone army at the beginning.
Losing the French Balkans would have been acceptable if the war could have been won. The problem is that due to the geographical location, the most suitable point of engagement at the moment is the Italian region.
Central Europe Napoleon III also dared not touch, otherwise the enemy would not be an Austria, but the anti-French coalition.
From Italy all the way to Vienna, this distance is enough to make the French army collapse N times. Austria’s railroads are indeed well built, but we all have different tracks and can’t be docked, so the railroads can’t be counted on at all.
This is still the ideal state, under normal circumstances the French army will mostly stop at the Lombardy region, there are perfect fortifications, not so easy to break through.
In the war of Ossa, the Kingdom of Sardinia relied on internal sneak attacks to tear through the defenses, now there is not so much internal.
In this context, even if the French army occupied the two Sicilian kingdoms, in fact, the two sides can only be regarded as a tie.
If you want to win the war, unless like the original time and space, Franz personally led the troops on the battlefield + blind command.
Today’s times are different, if Franz and Napoleon III together with the troops PK, the result is really no one knows, after all, the two are not what military masters.
In the original Austro-French war, Napoleon III did not have time to play, so the French army won the victory. If he exploded in full force, the victory or defeat is still unknown.
With the examples of the Near East War, the Civil War, and the Russo-Prussian War in succession, the Paris government was also much more cautious, and did not have the arrogance of being the first in the world.
Unlike the time when he was fighting for the throne, Napoleon III, who had a big family, was no longer the gambler. His throne was less orthodox, and the French public could not tolerate failure; any failure would shake the foundations of his rule.
This intervention in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies was just a test for Austria, and risking war for the sake of a test was just not worth it.
Both sides did not want to go to war, but the situation in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies made it impossible for the two countries to step down, and everyone wanted to save face, so whoever gave in first would be admitting defeat.
Although this kind of concede no substantial loss, but this breath must be gambled, this background Carlo Ferrandelli Prime Minister action.
Foreign Minister Uldinov looked at the evidence in his hands and questioned, “Your Excellency the Prime Minister, with just a few documents, it is too unconvincing, I am afraid that the French and Austrian ministers will not believe it.”
His heart was crumbling, even if it was planting evidence, it had to be a bit more professional! Directly take a bunch of documents as evidence, any print store on the street can wholesale them, not at all convincing.
Prime Minister Carlo Ferangeli smiled and said, ”It doesn’t matter, there is no need to make them believe. After seeing these things, did you associate them with something?”
Uldinov nodded, he heard Prime Minister Karel Ferangeri’s words. To say that the Americans had provoked the Franco-Austrian conflict, I guess not many people would believe it.
The federal government had neither the strength nor the guts, and more importantly, not enough interest, to make them do so.
If it were the British instead, it would be almost as good. John Bull already had a record of provoking relations between the two countries several times and being found out by both countries, as a repeat offender was naturally a key object of suspicion.
This excuse has an explanation both internally and externally. It was useless for the London government to deny it; Paris and Vienna would believe it outright.
France and Austria have not been further relations between the two countries, the main reason is that the British from the obstruction, or perhaps in a few years ago the two countries have been allied.
When Franz proposed a common plan to divide Europe, in fact, is now the source of Napoleon III’s ambitions, after the annexation of the Kingdom of Sardinia, it is out of control.
The Franco-Austrian secret pact included plans to exclude the British from the Mediterranean, which are now being implemented.
Whether it was Greece, the Ottoman Empire, or Egypt and North Africa, the British expansion over the years had not gone well.
Being tripped up by two groundlings together, the London government was naturally upset. Only this is all a small secret action, on the surface we are still good neighbors.
Unhappy John Bull naturally also took revenge means, provoking the relationship between the two countries is one of the links. Many of the British tactics were phallic, and even if they were exposed, they still affected Franco-Austrian relations.
Otherwise, France and Austria are still happily carving up the European continent, how can we come to this point now?
Soon, the evidence prepared by the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies was passed to Paris and Vienna, only the protagonist changed to the British.
Carlo Ferrandelli Prime Minister did not dare to mess with the British, France and Austria are not the same, both sides of the tacit understanding of the shit buckle on the head of the British.
This is not unfair, the London newspapers have exposed the truth of the civil war in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, with a lot of ink depicting the French and Austrians secretly underhanded.
Due to the lack of sufficient film and television material, mouth to mouth, these news naturally met with the denial of the government of Paris and Vienna.
However, under the impetus of the British, the news still quickly began to spread in the European continent, so that the people who ate it had enough to see.
People who want the two countries to start fighting are quite a few, such as Prussia and Russia, who are at war, they want to watch someone accompany the bad luck.
Only when the war breaks out between the watching France and Austria will everyone’s strength be brought to the same level again. Whether they want to admit it or not, Prussia and Russia have fallen behind.
Alexander II has the most to say, he is witnessed the Russian Empire from prosperity to decline, now only nominal European hegemony, the actual strength has fallen behind France and Austria.
This is not just a question of money, but the overall national strength of the comprehensive backward. Agricultural countries can not win industrial countries, the gap between the times can not be made up by the number of people back.
Vienna.
Foreign Minister Weissenberg suggested: “Your Majesty, this Franco-Austrian conflict must be stopped, if it continues, the British will be able to profit from it.
Now is not the time for a showdown between France and Austria, we need preparation time.”
War was not child’s play, especially a war between two great powers. The World War in the original time period was an example of this, where both sides made ample preparations before they started fighting.
Now Austria had prepared nothing, so what would it take to go to a duel?
Finance Minister Karl objected: “This time it is the French who provoked the matter, just let it go, where do we put our face?”
This was one of the problems, someone had to be held responsible for this conflict, and it could never be Austria, the government in Vienna had to save face.
Prime Minister Felix said fiercely, “Whoever started this strife is responsible for this incident. Since Francesco II has led the wolves into the house, he is not qualified to continue to serve as King of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.
Francesco II has many brothers, we can completely replace him with a pro-Orthodox king, his younger brother, Count Trani, is a good choice.”
What Francesco II did already constituted betrayal in Vienna’s eyes, and traitors naturally had to pay. Only he was the king, Vienna could not take his life, but abolishing the throne was still possible.
This is Francesco II’s own death, originally made a mess of the country, it is very unpopular, but also stupid to ask for help from Napoleon III, caused many people within the Bourbon family is also very dissatisfied with him.
Against this background, the Vienna government demanded the abdication of Francesco II, who simply did not have many supporters.
As for the French? Forget it, Napoleon III was no charity. The price to be paid to keep Francesco II was too great, and the benefits far outweighed the payoff.
Count Trani’s full name: Luigi Maria, half-brother of Francesco II, born August 1, 1838, now 28 years old.
That’s not even the point, the important thing is that Luigi Maria was the son of the Austrian Archduchess Maria Theresia Isabella, whose maternal grandfather, Archduke Karl, the Austrian military god, had Habsburg ancestry.
Francesco II was able to succeed to the throne not because of the strength of his supporters, but solely because of European inheritance laws.
As great nobles, both the Bourbons and the Habsburgs were upholders of the rules and followed them exactly.
So Francesco II could grow up and inherit the throne safely, without the so-called dog and pony show in the middle.
Everything was treated according to the standards of the Crown Prince, and stepmother abuse, simply didn’t exist. Grand Duchess Isabella was an educated person and would not do such tasteless things.
Because he lost his mother at a young age, everyone pitied Francesco II, who grew up with all the love of the family. Compared to his younger brothers, who had been brought up with strict rules, he had been brought up happily.
Growing up without any setbacks is not a good thing for a king, and this is one of the reasons why Francesco II did stupid things.
The world does not revolve around one, and now Francesco II tragedy. The Franco-Austrian conflict needed to be accounted for, and Austria’s face needed to be preserved.
As the culprit, Francesco II could not be blamed, and abdication was the only option.
This was not Franz’s business, and Count Trani had no friendship with him. The Grand Duke Karl was not without a son, and his legacy could not be passed on to his grandson. It was only a matter of timing, and the government in Vienna just went along for the ride.
Franz sneered and said: “Then Francesco II abdicate, but can not be so spared the French. Since they dare to reach out indiscriminately, they must pay the price.
Our strategy against the French can begin to be implemented, Napoleon III is still too idle, they must be kept busy.”
……
(End of chapter)