Chapter 434: Junker vs Civilian + Capitalization

  Chapter 424 Junker vs Civilian Officials + Capital

In March 1867, Austria conducted powerful military maneuvers on the Austro-Prussian border, which frightened the Prussians.

Having just fought the Russo-Prussian War, they were busy licking their wounds, but they did not have the courage to fight another Austro-Prussian War.

If they fought at this time, not only would they have to spit out all the fruits of the war in front of them, but it would be difficult for them to even defend themselves.

In the Berlin palace, Foreign Minister McKnight said, “The Austrians are demonstrating that they will not start a war at this time.

Once the war breaks out, the Russians will definitely continue this war, and the Tsarist government can take back Poland and the Baltic region just by following the sauce.

This was not what the Vienna government wanted to see, a strong Russian Empire was not in their interest. The Russian-Austrian alliance only existed temporarily because of their interests, sooner or later they would face each other for European hegemony.

There was also the current international situation, which was impossible for the Vienna government to ignore. None of the European countries wanted to see an overbearing Austria, and by provoking a war at this time, they would be left isolated.

If war broke out and the French went after the Rhineland, would the Vienna government intervene, or not?

To intervene would probably cause a full-scale war to break out between France and Austria; and if they don’t intervene, how can they present themselves as the leader of the German region?”

The reason for the real fearlessness was left unsaid by McKnight. The fight was certainly unwinnable; the Kingdom of Prussia was now exhausted.

But if the Berlin government was shameless enough, there was still a chance to shaft Austria and reverse the current passive state.

Once the French invaded the Rhineland, the Prussian government could simply concede defeat and join the New Holy Roman Empire, requiring Austria to defend the territorial integrity of the German region.

The situation changed when the Franco-Austrian war just detonated. If the French gained the upper hand, or if the war reached a stalemate, they could fall back again.

Don’t doubt the integrity of politicians, there’s nothing they can’t do if the stakes are high enough.

The pillar of the Prussian kingdom was the Junker nobility, a class that the Viennese government could not afford to buy off even if it wanted to.

The two sides have long been in private contact, if Franz is willing to compromise, the German region can be united at any time.

The Junker nobles were opposed to joining the new Holy Roman Empire only for the sake of profit. If Prussia could achieve the same status as Austria and safeguard their interests, then everyone could merge at any time.

Obviously this was not possible, and if a compromise was made, the New Holy Roman Empire split again.

An empire can only have one core, if it becomes two then it becomes Prussia with a bunch of small states in the empire against Austria.

From the beginning, Franz made the decision – the rights of the states had to be restrained.

After so many years of trying to get back diplomatic power, the right to coin money, the right to command armies, and some of the financial power, how could he possibly hand it over again?

Ron, the Minister of Army and Navy, questioned, “This is just wishful speculation on your part and does not represent the position of the government in Vienna.

Besides, Austria became the leader of the German region by strength, not by the so-called public opinion. They had strength first and then gained popular support.

Nationalist influence was indeed strong, but it was not enough to sway the decisions of the Vienna government. Exchanging the Rhineland region for the unification of Germany was not a loss for the Austrians, was it?

Keep in mind that Austria has always been wary of us, and of the many states in the German region, we are the only ones who also threaten their power.”

As a representative of the military, Ron was a promoter of the supremacy of force. This was determined by the state of the Kingdom of Prussia, and everyone was made a proponent of the supremacy of force.

To the influence of Austria, Ron did not value it. In his opinion, strength came first. Now that Austria had enough strength, other problems were nothing.

As long as it can unify the German region, the Rhineland region is lost, the big deal is to be scolded by the public a few times. In the future, as long as it is recovered, all these problems can be washed away.

It was not just his personal opinion, many people had the same opinion. Certain groups in the civil society were also advocating the theory of unification at a price, i.e., paying a certain price in exchange for national unification.

Specifically: the cession of the territories west of the Rhine to the French, and the cession of the Prussian-Polish area to the Russians.

Some also made an in-depth analysis, arguing that in this way the Prussian kingdom would shrink by a large amount, allowing the unified empire to become more stable.

This was the biggest worry of the Junker nobles, Austria would really have a lot to lose if they just annexed a shrunken version of the Kingdom of Prussia.

The Kingdom of Prussia was larger than all the states except Austria combined, and the existence of such a large state would obviously weaken the authority of the central government.

Austria, wanting to dominate the new Holy Roman Empire, would have to suppress the Kingdom of Prussia and limit them to a manageable level. The two sides were naturally at loggerheads, and there was no possibility of compromise.

This view did not include the shrewd politicians, who were the only ones who could see how bad the situation would be after the Austrian unification of the German regions.

Politically, isolation was inevitable, and the great empire of Central Europe was naturally hostile to Europe; militarily, it was the enemy of the world.

This enemy came from both the continent and the sea. On land there was no need to say, just look at the map and you will see, you have to fight against France and Russia at the same time.

The situation on the sea is even worse, in the Mediterranean Sea Austrian Navy to fight against Britain and France, in the Baltic Sea to fight with the Russians, in the Atlantic Ocean to fight with Britain and France at the same time.

This is still the result of ignoring the smaller countries, in fact Spain, Portugal, Holland, the Nordic Confederation, would all be Austrian enemies, this is geopolitically determined.

With the exception of Switzerland and Belgium, which had a high likelihood of neutrality, the European continent was full of enemies as far as the eye could see, even Montenegro and Greece, which were not worth mentioning.

No, Greece and Montenegro were already on opposite sides with Austria. Their dreams of great power were blocked by Austria.

If there weren’t too many external enemies, why else would Franz have put out a Great France after suppressing the Russians? It was not to reduce the pressure, and to distract everyone’s attention.

With the Russians in decline, Austria was able to get out of the two-front war. Even if it is a mishandling and detonates a full-scale war in Europe, the Eastern Front can be resolved in the shortest possible time.

Stirring up French ambitions and deliberately indulging the emergence of Great France is even more so.

They were also a public enemy of Europe, and with two giants appearing at the same time, European governments would be instantly confused, and it would be difficult to come up with a response plan in a short period of time.

The two powers were in a state of confrontation, and no matter which one fell, the other would become the European hegemon. Who knows what to do with such a multiple choice question?

This hesitation, the situation will change.

To put it bluntly, this was a gamble. Franz is betting that after the unification of the German region, internal integration can be completed first. Then relying on diplomacy to provoke internal conflicts in Greater France, and finally using national power to overwhelm France.

The French, on the other hand, were betting that the French army was more capable of fighting, and could directly defeat Austria on the battlefield after the establishment of Greater France, after the unification of the German region.

The existence of the Franco-Austrian alliance was not only a matter of each side’s needs, but also a joint effort to clear the field. The two sides would not feel comfortable dueling without first settling their other rivals.

Although there is no such thing as a “snipe and a clam” in Europe, we all understand this principle.

Obviously, the Berlin government did not know this. If they knew that France and Austria had allied, they probably did not have the heart to make any “Greater Prussia” program, but quickly find someone to warm up.

Foreign Minister McKnight sneered: “According to you, just hand over Silesia? Do not forget that the Austrians also offered to buy the Prussian Saxony.

This kind of compromise concession will only give them an inch, how far can we concede? If we do compromise, how will the government account for it to the people?”

Chief of the General Staff Mauch retorted, “Of course it’s not a cession for nothing, we can make an exchange of benefits with Austria, and now we need Vienna’s support, or at least acquiescence ……”

……

Looking at the arguing crowd, the picture is very discordant. The military advocates for compromise, the government advocates for toughness, how to look at it is like the order is screwed up.

Indeed, the order is reversed, initially advocate compromise is the government civilian officials, the military advocate tough response. But as the situation changed, the situation was reversed.

In fact, it’s just a continuation of the struggle for power in the Berlin government. Now that the civilian faction is at an absolute disadvantage in the government’s power struggle and the decision-making power has fallen into the hands of the military, they are not willing to lose and naturally want to make things happen.

In the face of power, many bottom lines no longer exist. Civilian faction has reached a critical moment of survival, once the negotiations in London are over, the military with the might of the great victory over Russia, the voice in the government will be further increased.

The military naturally favored stability, and the aftermath of the cession was not as serious as it could have been.

As for the aftermath of the cession, it was not so serious. It depended on how the land was ceded, as long as the operation was done properly, the loss was under control. What Prussia lacked now was not land, but population, especially Germans.

East Prussia was empty and needed to be filled with people, and the newly occupied areas needed to be stabilized by immigrants. Pack away all the population and finances from the ceded lands, and just throw in a piece of white Austria.

This is the same fulfillment of the agreement, but also let the government of Vienna have no words. The original agreement was only to cede the Silesian region, but there was no agreement to include the population and property on it.

If you want to make things happen, you can still leave part of the population, transfer all the local industries to the name of these people, and then come to a non-violent non-cooperation.

In a society where private property was sacrosanct, there was nothing the Government of Vienna could do if people did not cooperate through legal means.

Of course, this powerlessness is only for a short period of time. The solution always comes from people, and once they lose their integrity, many solutions can solve the problem.

There was another reason that could not be said for the change in the military’s position, which was that the Junker nobles needed labor to farm the land for them. The degree of mechanization was not high in this era, and the demand for labor in agriculture was not small at all.

The East Prussia region was the stronghold of the Junker nobles, and now that the people were gone, they couldn’t find enough labor to resume production.

There were also newly occupied areas, and a lot of land would fall into the hands of the Junker nobles through post-war bounties, which also needed labor to cultivate.

If there were no people from the mainland, and all of them used locals to farm, language communication alone would be a big problem.

Moreover, the nobles need to rule the local area, the local people rebel, they also need to be suppressed, how can they do without their own people?

Silesia region is seized from the hands of Austria, where industry is the main, capitalists are more powerful, even if the loss of Junker nobles have no loss.

The Prussian Saxony region is similar, the economic development is very good, but the time to join the Kingdom of Prussia is too short, is not the basic disk of the Junker nobles.

The same could not be said of the civil factions, who had to ally themselves with the capitalists in the country in order to fight the military. As the spokesmen for the interests of the bourgeoisie in the government, it was now natural to protect the interests of the bourgeoisie.

Theoretically, by transferring all the population and property, the losses of the Kingdom of Prussia could be minimized. The general population could also be compensated by the government, which seemed to be fine.

Only the interests of the capitalists could not be protected. Factories could not be built anywhere, and even if all the conditions were met, they would have to reopen their contacts and sales networks after a change of region.

This cannot be compensated by the government’s compensation, and in the process of this change, they are likely to be replaced by others.

(End of chapter)