Chapter 436: A Kind Reminder

  Chapter 426 A Kind Reminder

On April 22, 1867, the London Peace Conference was held. Representatives of more than twenty countries around the world gathered in London to discuss this particular great war.

This was the largest war in the world since the war against France, involving the largest number of countries, the widest area of belligerency, and the largest scale of war.

Undoubtedly, it was also the war with the heaviest casualties and the greatest economic losses, with the total military losses of the two belligerent sides exceeding two million, and the total economic losses of each country exceeding two billion divine guilders.

(Approximately one billion pounds, equivalent to 7,322.38 tons of gold)

Other than that, just looking at the casualties and economic losses, the countries of the world were collectively dumbfounded. You know that many countries have a population of less than two million, and the whole country is not worth two billion guilders.

The greatest loss is naturally the Russians, not only the heavy loss of troops, the domestic economy was hit hard, but also lost the city and lost the hard-won position of world hegemony.

If they were to do it all over again, the Russians would not have gone up so recklessly.

At the Paris Conference, the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein were given to Denmark, and the Prussian invasion of Denmark was opposed by the European countries, which could have solved the problem in a roundabout way.

Of course, the Russians were not good at roundabout diplomacy, and it did not look impressive enough to show the majesty of their European hegemony.

It never occurred to me that the war that was supposed to be used to build up prestige ended up burying the hegemony of the Russian Empire, and a great empire was brought to its knees.

Negotiations fell into bullshit mode at the beginning, the Russian delegation tongue-tied, except for the Danish representative to help, they fell directly into a state of siege.

This is the downside of having many enemies, if Poland was considered a country, this would have been the Russians facing a coalition of eight nations. (The Kingdom of Prussia, the Ottoman Empire, the four Central Asian states, Poland, **** the Empire)

As the belligerents tugged at each other, the representatives of the other countries naturally watched the action. The Russians would have been even more tragic if everyone had been involved.

Prussian diplomacy still worked and gained the understanding of most European countries, who provided a great deal of evidence against the Russians and were obviously well prepared.

After the first day’s meeting, the Russian Foreign Minister, Clarence Ivanov, knew that things were bad and had a secret meeting overnight with the Austrian representative, Wessenberg.

Clarence Ivanov didn’t beat around the bush and got straight to the point: “Your Excellency the Count, now we need your country’s help!”

After a moment of silence, Austrian Foreign Minister Weissenberg spoke, “We are allies, it is right to help each other, what kind of help does Your Excellency the Margrave need.”

The purpose of the Russians was clear to him, however, it was now necessary to play dumb in order to gain a more favorable position and re-establish dominance in the Russian-Austrian alliance.

Clarence Ivanov didn’t think that much, the change of the hegemony of the European continent became a foregone conclusion, whether it fell into the hands of the French or Austria, there was nothing for them.

The dominant power in the Russian-Austrian alliance was now not so important to the Russians who had lost their continental hegemony.

“The current diplomatic situation is very unfavorable to us, and I hope that your country can exert influence to reverse this situation!”

The one-sided situation was completely out of the Tsarist government’s expectation, in their plan most of the European countries should take a neutral attitude instead of standing directly against Russia.

It was the Russians who did not have time to change their mentality and still brought themselves into the role of European hegemon.

The Russian Empire in the era of European hegemony, everyone, even if very dissatisfied, but not many countries dare to show it, neutral is the position of small countries.

Now it is different, the Russian Empire is not only in the war was greatly injured, but also plunged into the civil war, in the world’s position has been greatly reduced, can not scare the European countries.

Those who had been angry in the past exploded at this time. Prior to this, the tsarist government also conducted diplomatic public relations, look at the results to know that they are helping. Not only did not pull in allies, but instead pushed some countries to the opposite side.

In this situation, they had to seek the support of Austria. From the Congress of Vienna in 1815, Austria occupied an important position in European political diplomacy.

The establishment of the Vienna System twice was the pinnacle of Metternich’s diplomacy. It has continued until now, Austria’s influence in European political diplomacy is one of the most influential.

This political-diplomatic influence is also one of the reasons why Franz has always paid attention to the eating.

Ordinary people seem to this political and diplomatic influence is not useful, in fact, this ensures that Austria will not fall into isolation, to avoid falling into the crisis of the world’s enemies.

Now the Russians knew the consequences of being isolated, and being targeted by various countries at the same time meant that they would be in a passive position in negotiations, and would need to pay a greater price to end the war.

Weissenberg shook his head and said, “Your Excellency the Margrave, you overestimate our influence. The current situation is not without the push of Britain and France, you don’t think Austria can counter the combined influence of Britain and France, do you?”

This kind of favor could not be helped, and if it really was, there would be endless consequences. There was also a price to pay to get countries to change their diplomatic stance. Without enough benefits, why would Austria pay that price?

Clarence Ivanov’s face sank, he knew that things were not that simple. If Austria was willing to make a move, now these small countries would be neutral again.

Anything less than the combined influence of Britain and France was bullshit. In reality, when their own interests were not involved, these small countries were wallflowers.

In the era of the Vienna system, Austria was able to expel the British from Europe, suppress France in Western Europe, and confine the Russians to Eastern Europe, relying on diplomatic cooperation.

When the annexation of the South German region triggered the panic of the European countries, not also quickly through the difficulties?

“Your Excellency the Count, we won’t let you help for nothing.”

After saying that, Clarence Ivanov presented a check from the Royal Bank with a blank number on it, directly allowing Weissenberg to fill it in himself.

Receiving the check, Weissenberg cried and laughed a little. Is he this kind of person? Austria is not popular to ask for bribes, this thing if he receives today, tomorrow he will go home to retire.

These days there is no poor Austrian minister, Franz is still very generous, the colony has a share of their property, at least a few thousand hectares of land to start.

These lands need to send their own people to operate and manage, a lot of rich people can be disdained, but this land comes with a fiefdom noble title, it instantly multiplied in value.

No one can have too much of a noble title, especially if it comes with a fiefdom. It didn’t matter if it was far away from the colonies, it would be localized sooner or later anyway.

In order to leave a few more family businesses for his descendants, Weissenberg pushed the check back and said, “I’m sorry, Your Excellency the Margrave, I don’t dare to accept this money.

If you want to make countries change their positions, you are bound to pay a price, and it is definitely not something that can be solved by just a few words.

If you want to get out of the current predicament, you can start with Sweden-Norway, the Nordic Confederation is in the process of being formed, at this time they must take into account the feelings of the Danes.

Then just pull in the German Confederation and exaggerate the Prussian threat theory. The Kingdom of Prussia wants to become a real power, and annexing them is the only option.

Convincing Belgium isn’t too hard either, the French are too much of a threat to them, they’ll need your help to at least neutralize them.

Spain and Portugal have no conflict of interest with your kingdom, and I believe Your Excellency is capable of convincing them to remain neutral.”

Weissenberg gave the solution, whether it could be done or not depended on the ability of the Tsar’s government. Countries with no conflict of interest can’t make people stay neutral, so what kind of diplomacy is there?

This is the bottom line of the powers, no matter how the Russians decline, they are still one of the four major powers in Europe, and their comprehensive national strength far exceeds that of Prussia and Spain.

Hearing this idea, Clarence Ivanov was a little embarrassed. These should be considered routine operations, yet they had actually screwed up before and now had to remedy the situation again.

Undoubtedly, in addition to the “mentality” of the diplomats to cause “trouble”, the starting point of lobbying is also an important factor.

This is not the responsibility of any one person, the Russians were able to solve their problems by diplomatic means until the time of Alexander III, before that they used to solve everything by force.

In this context, it was normal for diplomats to be incompetent. To be able to reach a passing level is considered an elite diplomat.

After a pause, Clarence Ivanov still handed over the check and said very politely, “Thank you, Your Excellency the Count! You have gained the friendship of the Russian Empire.”

There was no errand, but the other party gave the idea, and the money still had to be given.

This set of rules of the money game was common within the bureaucracy of the Tsarist government, and Clarence Ivanov was used to it.

In fact, the foreign ministries of various countries in this era were also the worst hit by corruption, and it was not too easy to get rich on the outside.

The original time Weissenberg also received gifts, but with the rise of the position, he gradually became more and more careful, afraid of being caught by rivals in the pigtails.

Now do not need to do things, the money is not so hot.

For the face of the money, Weissenberg added: “Your Excellency the Margrave, the difficulty of this negotiation is in the Eastern European region, here is the core of your country, I personally recommend that you first solve the trouble in the Far East, Near East and Central Asia.

Near East region Ottoman Empire battlefield did not achieve results, send them do not need to pay much; Far East region I do not know much, but the distance is too far, should not have much value.

Central Asia has been lost almost, simply let give up forget it. As long as the core interests are protected, other side issues are not worth mentioning.

From the perspective of long-term development, I think the problem of Eastern Europe is not a big deal. With your country’s strength, what you have lost now can be regained sooner or later.

Britain and France are constantly making small moves, so if the negotiations drag on for too long, it will be easy to create problems. As far as I know, the Kingdom of Prussia is still expanding its army and preparing for war, and it’s very likely that it will ignite the war again.”

It was really well-intentioned to let the Russians finish the negotiations quickly and end the war, after all, if it dragged on any longer, it wouldn’t be much of a surprise for the war to break out again.

According to European practice, if you can’t get the benefits at the negotiation table, then go get them on the battlefield. The current situation, the Russian Empire as long as they dare to fight, the front line of the army will dare to lose.

At least on the battlefield of Eastern Europe, there is no half hope. Without guaranteed logistical supplies, the war cannot be fought at all.

To dig a hole and encourage the Russians to fight back in the future would be to fulfill the duties of the Austrian Foreign Minister.

Listening to Weissenberg’s explanation, Clarence Ivanov’s mood was much heavier.

The loss of other regions was not a problem, the Russians could afford to lose, Eastern Europe was the core of the Russian Empire.

The land that was lost now was definitely going to be fought back in the future. The woolly bear was very vindictive, and the Kingdom of Prussia had replaced the Ottoman Empire as their number one enemy.

Once the Tsarist government had slowed down, it would have to seek their bad luck. Where you fall, you must rise, and the Russians never lacked resilience.

Wessenberg’s kind reminder was only to deepen the impression and keep the Russians mindful of this hatred.

(End of chapter)