Chapter 476: Buying and Pulling Together

  Chapter 465: Buying and Pulling Together

Negotiations between the three countries soon reached an impasse, with the French demanding the annexation of the Italian regions and Austria proposing the annexation of the German Confederation, neither of which was acceptable to the British.

In this way, it is equivalent to releasing two big empires at the same time, even though France and Austria are originally big empires, the British are still unwilling to see the two countries continue to grow.

If both France and Austria were allowed to fulfill their respective strategic plans, Britain’s position as the world’s hegemon would be unstable.

It is important to know that France and Austria have never officially recognized the British hegemony, and there have always been voices within the two countries challenging the British maritime hegemony.

It is no longer twenty years ago, when the total industrial volume of the British exceeded the sum of Europe, and the absolute gap in national strength made the British the hegemon.

However, with the completion of everyone’s industrial revolution, this gap gradually narrowed. Relying on the advantage in human resources, Austria’s total annual industrial output is now almost on par with the British.

The French were also not much worse than the British, and it was estimated that after the annexation of the Italian regions, in another three to five years, the total industrial volume of France would be able to overtake the British.

This is the advantage of a large area of the territory and a large population. Although the per capita is still not comparable, but can not stand the more people ah!

Austria’s native population is already as high as 69.76 million, within the year will be able to step over the 70 million mark; France once the annexation of the Italian region, the total population will be more than 54 million.

The total population of the British Isles is just over 32 million, and their birth rate is around 3.5%, far more than France, but less than Austria.

This gap is not visible in the short term, but over time the consequences are disastrous.

There is never a shortage of smart people in this world, and it is natural for someone to see the impact of population on national strength.

It is only that many people in the government of London have been led astray by Malthus’s Theory of Population, ignoring the progress of productivity in the industrial age, and the colonial era descended to increase the capacity of the population.

The Great Irish Famine occurred under this theory, and government bureaucrats decided that the British Isles were populated enough, and deliberately sat back and watched the Famine happen.

This theory is actually true, there is a limit to the population that the land can hold, except that Malthus was a man of the last century, and calculated by the standards of the feudal age.

Not so in the industrial age, when, according to the estimates of Austrian demographic experts, the population that could be accommodated on the mainland could be doubled, and the colonies could support 200 million people.

Scientific or not Franz is not sure, anyway, this figure he took straight out and used it, otherwise how to encourage reproduction?

Of course there were fewer English people, mainly because the native population was small, not that there were fewer people of English descent. There were still a whole lot of Englishmen overseas, or the colonial empire wouldn’t have lasted.

Negotiations were at an impasse, which was to be expected. The alliance between the big countries involves too many interests, not a short time can be clear, drag on a few years time is normal.

The Franco-Austrian alliance has actually been dragging on for many years, as early as 1848, after the French Revolution, both sides were discussing this issue.

The alliance was interrupted by a change of regime in France. In the late 1860s, the changing international situation provided an opportunity to bring France and Austria closer together.

Negotiations were negotiations, and the black hand that should have been laid was still to be laid, except that there was a tacit understanding that it would be tightened.

Franz canceled his plans to occupy British South Africa, and the British abandoned their strategy of uniting with Portugal to expel Austria from South Africa.

But the fight around the two Boer republics continued on both sides. It could no longer be called a Boer republic, and without realizing it German became the dominant language in the region.

It doesn’t need to be promoted, it’s considered mainstream when more people speak it. The governments of the two Boer republics are helpless, they don’t want this either, but there is no way around it.

Boers as a nation from the birth, full of strong German flavor, simply can not be washed away.

There is no way, even the Netherlands in this era, are deeply influenced by Germanic culture, not to mention their mixed race.

In 1830, about 12,000 Dutchmen, unwilling to accept British rule, moved to establish two Boer republics.

To increase their population they accepted European immigrants. About 8,000 immigrants from the German region arrived in a dozen years, and some French missionaries came, and the Boer nation was born.

By the middle of the 19th century, the total population of the two Boer republics exceeded 30,000 people.

From 1856 the history of the Boer republics changed with the influx of German immigrants, which altered the demographic structure of the two countries.

It was impossible to exclude German immigrants; half of the Boers at that time had German blood, and one bad move would have led to civil strife.

It was better to assimilate, and despite the efforts of the governments of the two Boer republics, they could not cope with the number of immigrants from the German region.

In the end the assimilation was successful, only contrary to the initial plan. As the Anglo-Boer conflict increased, the two Boer republics, in need of a leg up, had to move closer to Austria.

The political changes were such that the two Boer republican governments abandoned their initial plans and German became the dominant language.

The situation had developed to such an extent that the two Boer republics had become German states, and it was only a matter of time before they merged with Austria.

Franz is very important to the South African region, leaving aside the fertile land, light underground gold is Austria’s future strategy is an indispensable link.

Currency hegemony, no one will give up, the British in the pound – gold system, the French in the construction of the “franc system”, Austria is no exception, is establishing the “Shield – gold system”.

Who can become the final winner, in addition to look at the industry, but also to see who the number of gold stored in the hands of more. There is not enough gold, but also fight for what gold standard hegemony?

This has nothing to do with ambition, Franz was initially not prepared to compete with the British for monetary hegemony, but with the strength of the strength, the interests are forcing Austria to move forward.

Even if the government does not move, capital will move on its own. Now the international monetary hegemony struggle has not yet reached the time of the dagger, but the financial capital of the three countries has been about to stab the knife.

Unlike the struggle for world hegemony, the struggle for monetary hegemony is much more subtle, and the ordinary people have not yet realized that the battle has already begun.

In the original time and space in this round of struggle, the British used the Franco-Prussian War to hit France hard and won the final victory.

Of course, as the losers of the French also share a piece of meat, the franc became second only to the British pound international pass hard currency, the rest of the country is suffering.

As the emerging power of the German Second Empire, the gold standard reform, actually can not collect enough gold, and finally forced to compromise with the British.

England, France and Austria three countries fight for monetary hegemony, the lack of gold the French have taken the lead out of the game. Although they pulled together Switzerland, Belgium, Italy state formed the Latin monetary union, still did not change all this.

John Bull already had the gold of Australia and Canada, Austria got most of the gold in West Africa, and the French did not have enough gold in their hands, and are now all still insisting on the gold and silver compound standard system.

If the French didn’t have nothing in their hands that was worth making Franz snoop on, he’d be considering exposing the gold in Alaska and making a deal with Napoleon III.

After all, after mastering the gold of South Africa, Austria’s “Shield – gold system” has been stabilized. To exclusive currency hegemony, Austria’s strength and not enough.

No, I should say Franz see, the French will not give; France can give out, Franz can not see.

This can not be helped, the transaction can not be carried out. If a traveler look at the map, will find the world’s top ten gold mines, more than half in the Austrian control area.

……

The air was extraordinarily fresh after the new rains. The dark clouds over President Pretorius Jr.’s head, however, had not cleared, and a few more wrinkles had been added to his forehead.

He was also the man of the hour in Africa, becoming President of the Transvaal Republic in 1857, and then elected President of the Orange Free State in 1859, serving as President of two countries at the same time, which was a historical precedent.

Born in 1819, little Pretorius, less than forty years old became president, to the peak of his life, and now he should be spirited time.

However, the opposite was true. President Pretorius Jr. has been elected for the third time, has long since lost his initial vigor, and only left a face full of sorrow.

The campaign he led to merge the Transvaal Republic and the Orange Free State had once again failed. Unlike before, this time it was a complete failure, and there was no next chance.

There was no way around it; the government in Vienna was opposed to the establishment of the South African Republic. The powerful Boer Republicans, who had already hooked up with Austria, did not hesitate to sell out the government.

The two sides were now negotiating the price, and as long as the interests were right, the Transvaal Republic and the Orange Free State would soon be history, and his presidency would come to an early end.

Little Pretorius planned to have the Transvaal and the Orange Free State merge to create the Republic of South Africa, and then join the Shinra Empire as one nation.

Unfortunately, this plan was opposed by the government in Vienna. The Emperor did not want to see a republic emerge, a reason that left him prepared speechless.

If nothing else, the Transvaal and the Orange Free State would become part of Austrian Africa, and then part of the Empire through indigenization.

People are selfish, and the Transvaal and Orange Free State are small nations with no bargaining power at all.

As emerging nations, there was already little sense of identity, especially among the new German immigrants, all of whom identified more with Shinra than the Republic.

There were too many smart people, and it was clear to everyone that instead of fighting for the interests of the fledgling country, they should fight for themselves, so that they could get their hands on more benefits.

The opportunity to cross over into the noble class was not many, and such an opportunity could not be missed. As for the Transvaal and the Orange Free State, could the two grassroots be compared to the Shinra Empire?

No? Then there’s no need for you to agree, the following people will take your place.

The “public opinion” is not a problem, the petition procession outside proves that joining Shinra is in line with the public’s wishes.

The clever little Pretorius would not have done anything that would have prevented him from doing so. With Austria’s influence in the Transvaal and Orange, it would be too easy to change the president.

It is not that he did not try, in order to reduce the influence of Austria, little Pretorius after the throne, but also very hard to introduce the Dutch immigrants, but was opposed by the Dutch government.

The reason is very simple, the Netherlands is only a small country with a limited population, the government is busy expanding in the South Seas region, to the Indonesian region are not enough immigrants, how can they support them?

In this case, little Pretorius could not do anything. Investing in them was obviously not going to pay off, and the Boer Republic, sandwiched between Britain and Austria, was doomed from the start.

President Pretorius Jr. asked with concern, “Karen, how are the negotiations between them and the Austrians going?”

As a president, he was actually not qualified to be at the negotiating table, and it had to be said that this was a tragedy.

There was no way around it, who let President Pretorius Jr. advocate: to merge the Transvaal and Orange Free State to establish the South African Republic before negotiating with the Austrians.

The government in Vienna simply ignored him and directly bypassed the president by sending people to negotiate with the powerful factions within the Boer Republic.

This was not helped by the fact that none of the cronies of President Pretorius the Younger, including those of the President, refused the Austrian overtures.

Everyone’s modesty was lowered in the face of interest. Those who actively cooperated had the opportunity to become nobles and could remain in a position of dominance in the new era to come.

If they stood on the wrong side, they were going to be marginalized in the new round of power shuffling.

In this age of the weak and the strong, once they were eliminated from the game, there was no need for others to make a move, the companions of the sunset would devour their interests.

Little Pretorius is at least the president, as a flagship character, as long as not openly come out to oppose, in order to eat the Vienna government will be properly placed, this is the reason why he sat down.

To know small Pretorius can become president, can not just because of his father’s political heritage, their own political ability is also an important factor.

He still understood the principle that an arm cannot twist a leg. Since he couldn’t stop it, he had to find a way to get involved, and paying attention to the negotiation process was a must.

Note: The full name of Pretorius Jr. is Martinus Wessel Pretorius.

(End of chapter)