Chapter 423: British and Russian Reaction

  Chapter 413 The British-Russian Reaction

Despite the fact that the treaty of June 6 only exposed the tip of the iceberg, the government in London was already having trouble sleeping. Now John Russell had a headache looking at the map of the Mediterranean Sea, where the French army had boarded Sicily in the name of helping to suppress the rebellion.

With Austria suddenly letting go, was there anyone left to restrain the French from expanding their power in the Italian region?

The answer was brutal: no.

The Italian region had always been the center of contention between France and Austria, yet now that they chose to compromise, this conflict naturally ceased to exist.

“Win-win cooperation” may be useful in resolving international disputes, but it is a huge poison to the British Empire’s policy of European balance.

Inside the Prime Minister’s residence in Downing Street, John Russell said seriously: “In the last decade or so, the power of France and Austria has grown dramatically, and they already have the power to threaten us.

Everyone look at this latest map of Europe, Austria annexed the South German region and expanded greatly in the Balkan Peninsula, and this time, after trading with the French, their territory has nearly doubled.

The French are not far behind, a few years ago Napoleon III took advantage of our suppression of the Indian rebellion and annexed the Kingdom of Sardinia, and now he has his hand in the region of Southern Italy.

From the time France and Austria joined forces to dig the Suez Canal, they have been ostracizing us in the Mediterranean. If we don’t find a way to stop them from continuing to lean in, the Mediterranean will soon have no place for us.”

John Russell’s statement is a bit of an exaggeration, and the so-called crowding out is complete nonsense. Everyone’s sphere of influence expansions have collided, and it’s natural to fight over them for the sake of profit.

Unfortunately in the new round of fighting, the British lost.

In order to ensure the smooth progress of the Suez Canal project, the British Suez railroad project, Egypt to promote the cotton planting strategy, in the joint intervention of France and Austria bankruptcy.

Apart from that, the British interests in the Ottoman Empire, Greece and other regions, were not affected, and driving them out of the Mediterranean Sea was not in the plans of the two countries at all.

It wasn’t that Franz didn’t want to do it, the point was that the French were too wimpy in the face of the British. It was hard to convince Napoleon III unless the benefits were big enough.

However the benefits were only so much in total, and Austria couldn’t do it for nothing, there simply wasn’t enough to split between the two countries.

Edward, the Minister of the Navy, pointed to the map on the wall and said, “The French have extended their tentacles to Sicily, and Tunisia has also been included in their protectorate. It won’t be long before we have to look at the French when we go in and out of the Mediterranean.”

There was no doubt that Edward was putting pressure on the Foreign Office. The Royal Navy held the Strait of Gibraltar, which was the most important area in the Mediterranean until the Suez Canal was opened.

Foreign Minister Raistlin replied grimly, “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is responsible for the French and Austrians leaning in, but why isn’t it that we are putting too much pressure on them?

In recent years, in order to restrict France and Austria, our successive moves have caused the two countries to be wary.

The ongoing Russo-Prussian war is also one of the reasons that prompted the two countries to ease their relations.

For the common good, I have reason to believe that France and Austria are ready to ally, or have already done so.

The compromise on Italy was definitely not that simple. It’s no secret that the French wanted to annex Italy, and it’s equally no secret that Austria wanted to unify the German regions.

In the current situation, the countries were holding each other back and none of them could achieve their goals. However, it’s different when France and Austria join forces in an alliance, both countries act at the same time, and there’s nothing we can do to intervene even if we wanted to.”

The faces of the crowd changed greatly as they thought of more. In recent years, the Anglo-French conflict and the Anglo-Austrian conflict had escalated, and in order to limit the expansion of the two countries, the London government was constantly moving.

Prime Minister John Russell affirmed, “The Prussian-Russian war can’t continue, the Russians have already weakened almost as much. If Prussia and Russia continue their bloody fight, there will no longer be a counterweight to France and Austria on the European continent.”

Fighting the Russian Empire was the national policy of the British, and the government in London was doing a very good job, but it just didn’t realize that by focusing solely on fighting the Russians, it had overlooked the rise of France and Austria.

Now the three major empires on the European continent, the strength has undergone a shocking change, the first-ranked Russians, fell directly to the end of the list, and it will be difficult to recover in the next ten or twenty years.

The dramatic expansion of France and Austria, now any one of these countries, have the potential to challenge the hegemony of Great Britain.

Foreign Minister Raistlin objected, “It’s too late to try to stop it now, Prussia and Russia are fighting for real.

The Russians have suffered so many losses that the Tsarist government is unlikely to let the Prussians off the hook so easily; likewise the Kingdom of Prussia is not going to make a truce with the Russians, and if they miss this opportunity, their dreams of empire will be shattered.

In that case, it would be better to cripple the Russians once and for all, lest they should be allowed to recover their strength and threaten India again.

It’s easy to sabotage France and Austria to get closer, the Russians have lost their European hegemony and the next step is going to be in France and Austria, the seeds of conflict have been planted a long time ago.”

Finance Minister Agarwal questioned, “What if they are already allied?”

Raistlin said hegemonically, “Then we will join in the alliance and break it up.”

……

The outcome of this meeting hurt Raistlin. Perhaps due to strategic security concerns that did not go according to his plan, the cabinet decided to strike first and take the Tunisian region.

In purely military terms, this was the best option. The French had already landed in Sicily, and the Royal Navy had lost the opportunity to control the first major island in the Mediterranean.

That being the case, the only way to go was to take the Tunisian Straits. With Malta and Tunisia in the hands of the Royal Navy, the Mediterranean was still under their control.

As for offending the French as a result, this issue was not in the minds of the people. Ever since the French annexed the Kingdom of Sardinia, the relationship between Britain and France had not been good.

Except for a period of honeymoon between the two countries during the Near East War, most of the time both sides appeared as opponents.

Raistlin did not have the time to dwell on this issue, now his task was to break up the Russo-Austrian alliance. Any day this alliance existed was a threat to the British Empire’s world hegemony.

Who knew if the Tsarist government would return to Central Asia to expand into the Indian subcontinent after failing to expand on the European continent?

Don’t look at the Russians’ heavy losses and think they don’t have the strength to expand. This will become a reality as soon as the Austrians are willing to pay for it.

With the escalating conflict between Britain and Austria, Vienna could compromise with the Paris government, so it was not impossible to support the Russians?

Canada, Australia, and South Africa were all unexplored in this era, and what kind of hegemony would the British Empire be if it lost India?

If this really happened, in less than ten years the British Empire’s maritime supremacy would be replaced by France and Austria.

The factory of the world is also built on the double background of raw materials and markets. Without the cheap raw materials from India, and a huge consumer market, the British industrial hegemony will be lost immediately.

The industrial revolution has been carried out to the present, the British have lost the technological advantage, the British, French and Austrian industrial gradually in the same class.

……

In St. Petersburg, Alexander II was in a much more peaceful state of mind. Whether France and Austria were close or not had nothing to do with him.

The Russo-Prussian War is still going on, and because of the logistical constraints on the number of troops, the Russians have been unable to make progress, and he is worried about his head.

Theoretically, the Russian Empire would be the final victor if the war went on like this. However, this victory required a question mark.

Sweden was stabilized, but the war in Central Asia was already in shambles, and the Far East was in turmoil, so they already had too much time on their hands.

Foreign Minister Clarence Ivanov reported, “Your Majesty, the Austrians have given their answer, they have agreed to relinquish most of the French Balkans, but at our expense.”

This did not surprise Alexander II, despite the stipulations in the original Russian-Austrian secret treaty, the French Balkans were bought back by the Austrians at a cost, so naturally it was impossible to give them away for nothing.

What’s the point of being an ally when you’re a brother?

Alexander II asked with concern: “What do they want?”

Despite missing the best time to go in to the Mediterranean Sea, the strategic position of the Dardanelles was still important, and he didn’t mind getting his hands on it if the Austrians’ conditions weren’t excessive.

Foreign Minister Clarence Ivanov replied, “We made preliminary representations, and the Vienna government believes that in this land deal case, in addition to the economic issues, they are also paying for political benefits.

Their offer is very high, and if they fund the purchase they will have to pay a one-time payment of 200 million Shenduan. A land exchange is acceptable, and they are asking for a five-to-one exchange on the basis of area.

If we agree to this deal, even if the final negotiated result is a discount, we have suffered a big loss.”

Obviously Foreign Minister Clarence Ivanov was against such a deal, and in a short time the Russian Empire simply did not have the strength to enter the Mediterranean.

Besides, now that the Mediterranean coast is pretty much divided up, they can’t even find a foothold.

The only option left for them is the Ottoman Empire, however it is a hard nut to swallow.

After a few moments of contemplation, Alexander II made a decision: “In that case, then continue to grind with the Austrians on price. We are not in a hurry, and there is no harm in dragging it out for three or five years.”

He is clear that this is the Vienna government wants to knock the bar, or the Austrians do not want to watch them enter the Mediterranean Sea to grab the land, after all, the Mediterranean Sea has now been divided up by Britain, France and Austria.

If another competitor was added, it would inevitably break the balance of the Mediterranean. Because of the Russian-Austrian alliance, the Austrians could not stand alone, which would make the Vienna government diplomatically passive, especially when France and Austria were close together.

(End of chapter)