Chapter 439: Being Pitied

  Chapter 429: Pitied

Vienna, as a good neighbor Franz has been closely watching the civil war of the Russians, looking at the intelligence gathered in his hands, he knew that the Tsarist government was going to give in.

In order to ensure the stability of the country, Alexander II has been holding back not launched, the result is that the rebel forces snowballed, has threatened the rule of the tsarist government.

At this point, any savvy monarch would choose to defend his rule first. Alexander II had to end the war before he could clean up internally and use political means to dismantle the rebels.

A dog will jump over the wall and start the war without ending it, and once these assholes colluded with the Kingdom of Prussia, it was expected that St. Petersburg would not be preserved.

To confuse these people, Alexander II had already seized a few scapegoats to look like the matter was over.

This kind of conciliatory approach serves practically no purpose other than to stall for time. For a country to compromise like this is chronic suicide.

Franz had been in contact with Alexander II, and he knew very well that this was no mediocre king. Back in Nicholas’s time, Alexander II had proposed reforms to the social system.

Unfortunately Nicholas I had already pushed for a round of reforms and still ended in failure. In his later years, Nicholas I did not have the courage to take the risk of breaking with domestic interests.

In the time of Alexander II, the difficulty of reforms increased dramatically, and he did not have the prestige of Nicholas I, who was unable to subdue the big and small groups in the country.

Comprehensive social reforms shrunk to limited social reforms, and embarking on the same path as in the original time and space, Alexander II took the approach of following a gradual approach to promoting social reforms.

At the critical moment, the Polish Uprising broke out, followed by the Prussian-Danish War, and the hegemony of the Russian Empire was challenged.

In order to maintain the hegemony of the empire, Alexander II had to go to war. The war failed and social conflicts within the country intensified, resulting in the present situation.

Franz made an instant decision, “Prime Minister, urge the Berlin government to fulfill the conditions, or we’ll let them get nothing!”

This was political blackmail, the negotiations were at an impasse, and the Berlin government was panicking. In the intervening months, the Tsarist government had armed hundreds of thousands more troops.

Another fight? The Prussians said they were panicked, they had suffered great losses so far in the war, and if they fought the Russians one more time, even if they won the fight they would still lose.

If their own strength is insufficient, even if they cede a large area of land from the Russians, they can not swallow ah!

The Junker nobles were also insightful and knew that the Kingdom of Prussia could not afford any defeat now. France and Austria are still eyeing the two countries, did not take action that they still have the power to fight.

No matter who makes the first move, it will be cheaper for the other one. Coupled with the seriousness of the international situation, France and Austria are worried about being the first to enter the scene will be backstabbed.

In front of the interests, the covenant is not much more than a scrap of paper. If they were screwed, where would they cry?

This created an opportunity for Austria to blackmail Prussia. Prussia only knew that the attitude of the Russians was still strong, and did not know that the Tsarist government was about to compromise, and that the Berlin government did not dare to let the war go on.

“Yes, Your Majesty!” Prime Minister Felix replied

……

Plans never change fast enough, and upon receiving the diplomatic note from the government in Vienna, the Berlin government was not at all panicked.

The two sides directly talked about the conditions, Prussian Foreign Minister MacKnight questioned, “Sir Robson, how is Silesia and the Prussian Saxony region, you know it very well, how is it possible to buy it for five million guilders?

As far as I know, for the Prussian Saxony region alone, the treaty you signed with the Russians also agreed on fifty million shillings. That’s still a high-risk loan. How can it be lower than that now?

We’re selling the Prussian Saxony and Silesia regions for 120 million goddess guilders at a single price, and that’s definitely value for money.”

Robson, the Austrian Minister in Berlin, explained unhurriedly, “Your Excellency the Minister, the accounts cannot be calculated that way. First of all, the Silesian region was agreed upon before the war by us and does not need to be paid for again.

It is only the Prussian Saxony region that is the subject of this deal, and it is important to realize that in addition to money, what we pay politically is likewise factored into the deal.

Your country wants the duchies of Schleswig-Holstein, Lithuania, Latvia, and a large part of Belarus, which adds up to three-quarters of your territory.

It’s not so easy to get there, at least the French are supporting the Poles to get access to the sea in the Lithuanian region, and the British are warming up to it, if you don’t want to take another enclave ……”

Enclaves it’s a sad issue, a Rhineland under the eyes of the French puts the Berlin government to sleep, another enclave under the eyes of the Russians and it’s not going to be an easy life.

Once the Poles gained access to the sea in the Lithuanian region, the Belarusian and Latvian regions that Prussia wanted became enclaves, a defense pressure that was crushing enough.

Not only threatened by the Russians, even the Poles have the power to threaten them now. The forces could not converge, what else could be done to annex Poland and build a great Prussian empire?

It was in the French interest to weaken Prussia and strengthen Poland. It creates the conditions for them to annex the Rhineland and supports a pawn to hold Austria in check.

For the British, both are little brothers, favoring either one is not good, good at dancing sleeves John Bull, of course, will not venture to take a position.

Prussian Foreign Minister MacKnight retorted, “Sir Robson, the emergence of a strong Poland is not a good thing for your country either, Polish nationalism for Austrian Poland is not forgotten!”

Minister Robson smiled slightly and said, “Your Excellency the Minister, you think too highly of the Poles. Austrian Poland never existed, and the local population doesn’t consider them Polish.

The newborn Poland dares to challenge Austria, then it won’t be long before they become history again, the gap in strength can’t be compensated by a few slogans.”

In this regard the Vienna government has the backbone, as early as twenty years ago the Polish nobility in Galicia made a stand for independence and was suppressed by the local population.

After so many years of assimilation, the traces of Poland have now long been touched off, and the locals all call themselves Austrians.

Those who still retain Polish traditions have become a tiny minority, and a look at the Vienna government’s ethnic statistics shows that the number of Polish nationalities in the country has fallen to less than a million.

The reduced number of Poles has not disappeared, but mainly assimilated away. The new generation does not consider itself Polish, and the number of ethnic Poles has naturally declined dramatically.

It’s not like Austria is divided into ethnic groups by descent, and after all these years, there are so many hybrids that it’s impossible to make sense of it all.

Rather, it is based on a number of factors, such as language and writing, traditions and customs, as well as the people’s self-identification as a nation.

In this respect the Prussian and Austrian policies were more or less the same, and both were pursuing Germanization. Both sides achieved good results, except that Austria went further, and could not find a job without learning the common language.

Of course, the re-independence of Poland would still affect Austria’s assimilation efforts, but the Vienna government was prepared for it.

Franz was also a believer in freedom, and since he wanted to be Polish then he could just go back to Poland, it’s not like Austria was short of a few hundred thousand people.

Deportation of hundreds of thousands of people is difficult in other countries, in Austria is not a problem at all. Protest and make trouble, then deport them all together and be done with it.

The threat to Poland is internal, not external. The strength of both sides determined that militarily Poland could not threaten Austria. Internal problems are only a threat if you dare to do something about them.

Austria could not take it seriously, MacKnight could not. Prussia was still interested in Poland, and Polish national separatism could not scare the Berlin government.

In a way, the Junker nobility was their nemesis. East Prussia and West Prussia are examples, a bunch of Junker nobles suppressed the place and did a great job of national integration.

The successful experience increased the confidence of the Berlin government. No matter how much outsiders attacked the feudal aristocracy as backward, this system was really effective in stabilizing the localities.

……

After some bargaining, on August 11, 1867, the Austrian minister in Berlin, Robson, and the Prussian foreign minister, McKnight, signed the Prussian-Austrian Land Deal.

The treaty contained only one article: the Kingdom of Prussia sold Silesia and the Prussian Saxony region to Austria for thirty-eight million guilders.

Note: After the signing of the treaty, the Kingdom of Prussia would complete the transfer with Austria within two years after receiving the money, and Austria would have to pay an additional 10 million guilders for the relocation costs.

Undoubtedly, other additional conditions were hidden, and both sides tacitly did not mention them.

Vienna, looking at the signed treaty, made Franz incredulous. It gave him the impression as if Prussia wanted to sign the treaty as soon as possible, and there was no so-called resistance.

The only problem is that the Prussians asked for a longer handover time, but this is not a big problem, the district of two years time Prussian Kingdom can not recover, want to renege on the debt also do not have the strength.

Moreover, the Berlin government gave a reasonable explanation, they need time to withdraw their capital. Unless Austria again money to buy the property above, otherwise they have to leave them time buffer.

Funding to buy the industry that does not exist, the Vienna government is not the wrongdoer. If you really according to the market value to buy, Austria can not afford to buy ah!

Bubble economy in any era have, Prussian Saxony and Silesia area together have more than 30,000 square kilometers, above the mines, land, factories, real estate, how to say also worth several hundred million, the market value of the surface has to be doubled several times.

Since the Prussians were willing to move, the Vienna government naturally didn’t mind. Not all factories are valuable, these industries Austria itself, stay in addition to intensify market competition, there is no substantial role.

It was because they were not needed that the Vienna government decisively signed a treaty with the Prussians. Soon the Viennese government realized that something was wrong, the Prussians relocated a little too thoroughly.

Factories moved away, actually taking their workers with them. The nobles and farmers moved away, too, dragging their families along with the peasants who farmed their land and packing them away.

Of course found this problem, has been half a year later, that time the wood has already been, Franz can only hold his nose and admit it.

The treaty has been signed, can not renege, right? Moreover, the people did not go away, the people who supported Austria still stayed, a kind of consolation prize.

Now the government in Vienna is celebrating this great diplomatic victory, Austria has recovered the Silesia region, which everyone can’t forget, and the Kingdom of Saxony has also recovered the Prussian Saxony region.

The popular reaction was even more enthusiastic, and many saw this as a further step in the unification of the German regions, and the theory of unification by distribution away became more deeply rooted.

The government of Vienna, which had taken the favor of taking money from others, also changed its position at the London Peace Conference.

It adopted a tacit attitude towards many of the demands made by the Kingdom of Prussia, and was no longer as resolutely opposed to them as it had been at the beginning.

(End of chapter)