Chapter 481: Wanting to be a fisherman but not being able to do so

  Chapter 470: Wanting to be a Fisherman but not being able to do so

It was not only the French who wanted to be a fisherman, after the Anglo-Boer War broke out, Prussia was also acting foolishly.

Only William I was more careful and cautious, did not rush to venture. Although the British and Austrian two countries in South Africa dry on, but that are secretly, the surface of the two sides but “friendly countries”.

Did not tear the face, means that both sides can compromise at any time. William I do not think that the South African problem, is the two countries of the dead end.

However, his point of view, not equal to the Berlin government’s point of view, has long been unable to hold back the Junker nobles, has begun to move.

Prime Minister Mauch said in surprise: “Your Majesty, this is a perfect opportunity. The Anglo-Austrian conflict has broken out, and the French have focused their attention on the Italian region.

At this time, there is no longer anyone who can restrict us from making a move against the German Federal Empire, and the opportunity to unify the North German region is here.”

The unification of the North German region was vital to Prussia, once the German Federal Empire was annexed, it would not be the Three Great Powers dominating the European continent, but the Four Great Powers.

Despite the fact that Prussia now defeated the Russian Empire, they were still ranked behind the Russian Empire in everyone’s mind.

Recognized as a member of the club of the Great Powers, but only a second-rate power, with a certain amount of say, but without the influence to dominate the situation in Europe.

This is not a matter of vanity, but a result of strength. Whether it was economic strength or military strength, the Kingdom of Prussia was not yet able to compete with Britain, France and Austria.

After defeating the Russians, the Junker nobles were bursting with self-confidence. If they hadn’t lost so much in the war and hadn’t recovered so far, they wouldn’t have been so peaceful.

To change this situation, unifying the North German region was the best option. Of course, being able to annex Poland would be even more perfect.

Prime Minister Mauch still has his wits on the line, and did not foolishly try to do both. Prussia’s strength is limited, the consequences of taking care of both at the same time is bound to be a chicken and egg.

William I directly asked: “my prime minister, do you think the South African region is important to Austria, or the German region is important to Austria?”

This question don’t think all know, obviously is the German region is more important. Even if the gold mines in South Africa have been discovered, the importance to Austria is still not as important as the German region.

Politically it was decided that Franz could not give up the German region, even if it was impossible to unify the German region, the slogan of unification still had to be shouted.

This is related to the orthodoxy of the Shenla Empire, the Vienna government can not easily let go, otherwise it can not explain to the domestic public.

Mao Qi replied, ”Naturally, the German region is important, but from the Vienna government’s performance, their interest in the German Confederation is not too strong.

If they really wanted to annex the German Federal Empire, they wouldn’t have to wait until now, they could have done it as early as a few years ago when we were in a bitter war with the Russians.”

This is true, at that time Prussia held the Russians at bay, Austria took on the German Federal Empire, and the only people left in a position to intervene were the French.

And with the French eyeing the Italian regions, the Franco-Austrian interests were exchanged and the success rate of annexing the German Confederation was very high.

William I picked up the baton and pointed to the map of Europe on the wall and said, “The fact that the Vienna government is not going to do anything does not mean that it will let us do it.

Your Excellency Marshal, you are also a military man. The strategic situation that Austria would face if it annexed the German Confederation must be clear to you.

Purely in terms of national defense, the present situation is the most favorable for Austria. The Russians in the east are licking their wounds, the Ottoman Empire in the south is dying, and we cannot threaten them in the north.

With the Albis Mountains in the way, it’s also very difficult for the French to fight their way through to the west. The only way for the French to attack Austria other than from the Italian region is to borrow from Belgium and the Rhineland.

The French were also busy annexing the Italian region, and it could be said that the situation there would not be stable for the next twenty years. Attacking Austria from the Italian region, the French wanted to consider the partisans in the territory.

As for from a borrowed route, that’s even more unlikely. At least we don’t have the guts to let the French in, and the French are unlikely to trust us, they’d rather fight all the way through.

The likelihood of a major war breaking out between France and Austria has been minimized to less than the chances of a war breaking out between us and the French.

Once we occupy the German Federal Reich, this strategic advantage, instantly ceases to exist. Not only the French threat, but the maritime threat from the British.

Military threats aside, do the Austrians really need the German Confederation right now?

There are more than twenty states of all sizes in the German Federal Empire, and by annexing them, isn’t the Vienna government afraid that the Reichstag will be too lively?”

The last reason was the crux of the matter. With so many states joining the Shinra Empire, the number of votes they have in the Reichstag exceeds that of Austria, which would weaken the central government’s hold on the states.

Not to mention the strategic impermissibility, even if there was no strategic issue, the political impact alone would make no one dare to do anything.

When Franz reorganized Shinra, it was a no-brainer. Austria’s strength is insufficient, the number of domestic subject peoples is seriously insufficient, can only choose to compromise.

After so many years, after a series of measures such as compulsory education, planned cross-immigration, assimilation, etc., the internal ethnic conflicts have been almost dissolved.

At this time, the Vienna government was naturally unwilling to add a bunch of states to the mix. Otherwise, there would have been no need to use force at all, and the German Confederation would have run over of its own accord.

According to the principle of at least one vote for each state, so many small states in the German Federal Empire could directly become the masters of the empire by virtue of their superiority in votes.

How could such a good thing be possible? Not only Austria would not agree to it, but even the several states in the country would not agree to it.

Everyone is to be credited with the development of the Empire to this point. To be willing to take these benefits and share them is already not easy. But to give away your rights, no matter who you are, you can’t agree to it!

The Vienna government was too worried about the situation to openly break its promise, so things dragged on. But they do not do it, the same will not let others do it.

William I estimated that they just made a move in front of their feet, followed by Austria jumped out to pick the peach. It just so happened that they took out these state governments, and Austria could directly turn these regions into directly governed provinces and cities.

Now the Kingdom of Prussia can not have the power to fight, even if the courage to challenge Austria, but also have to first consider the back of the Russians will not stab the knife, but also worry about the west of France will not fall into the well.

Without Bismarck’s time, these troubles caused William I a headache, and he had to take action himself.

The struggle for power was brutal, the military was too powerful, and now even as king, William I could not do everything.

The Kingdom of Prussia was not devoid of talented people, but it was very difficult to promote these people, and many of them became the king’s staff.

Not long ago, William I wanted to promote a commoner foreign minister, was opposed by the Junker nobles, the reason is very simple: no credit to the country.

This was a reason that William I could not even refute. The system of appointing officials on the basis of merit was copied from Austria by the Junker nobles and then changed.

Austria assessed the performance of officials, Prussia directly look at the merits, political performance is merit, military service is also merit. Under this rule of the game, a large number of Junker nobles were in high positions.

Having just won the victory over the Russians, the Junker nobles had a lot of military achievements, and most of the power of the government fell into their hands.

As the prime minister and ministers were all of Junker origin, the power of Wilhelm I was inevitably weakened.

If it is not William I preempted, divided and disintegrated the Junker nobility, so that the group split into several waves, now he is going to become a rubber stamp.

All are the elite of this era, despite the political sense of smell is not good, once the problem is put on the surface, Marshal Mauch still quickly reacted.

Seeing the face changed greatly Mauch, William I heart is very satisfied. It was because Mauch’s talent was in the military and his ability in politics was limited that he let Mauch become prime minister.

Otherwise how to divide the Junker nobility? Now there is a strange circle in Prussia, a lot of people with explosive military ability are serving in the government.

Of course people with explosive political ability, did not enter the army to serve, self-destructive things William I would not yet do.

After a moment of silence, William I added: “The focus of the government is now to develop the economy, Prussia has just come out of the war, the country of Baidu to be revitalized, the people need to rest.

In recent years, the Russians also carried out social reforms. In order to raise funds, Alexander II even went so far as to renege on his debts.

This enemy is so formidable that we can’t afford to let our guard down for a moment. In twenty years at the most, there will be a war between Prussia and Russia.”

The diversion was very successful, and the Russians made an outstanding contribution to the unity and stability of the Kingdom of Prussia. Only in the face of this great enemy was Prussian society able to unite as never before.

The Prussian-Russian conflict could no longer be resolved, and Wilhelm I was not prepared to reconcile with the Russians; it was only right to throw problems at them.

This reasoning left the Cabinet of Ministers free of opinion. In and Russia as an enemy, and then go to mess with Austria, offend England, that is simply looking for death.

That’s right, now the British were also against Prussia’s annexation of the German Federal Empire. Having France and Austria was enough to keep the London government busy, and another growing Prussia would be too much for the British to bear.

Moreover, the British still have a not insignificant interest in the German Confederation, and in the event that Austria is not interested in making a move, they are happy to keep the little brother.

In fact any annexation on the European continent would be a threat to the British. Limited by the small size of the mainland, the government in London had to prevent any possible European unification.

In order to lighten the atmosphere, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Ron, proposed, “Your Majesty is right, our finances are very bleak and we are one step away from bankruptcy.

The Russians have not just lost their international credibility by reneging on their debt this time, they have lost nearly all of their international markets.

This kind of cost is not something we can afford, it is vital to develop the economy now, and it is necessary for the government to formulate a more aggressive economic policy.”

Don’t look at them all as being from the military and not very familiar with the business of politics, but in fact the situation in the Kingdom of Prussia was still very stable.

They directly brought the model of managing the army to managing the country, what consequences are yet to be known, at least in a short period of time still achieved positive results.

At the end of the war, the Kingdom of Prussia came out of the woods in less than three years. Of course, the spoils of war were also a major stimulus, otherwise they would never have recovered so quickly.

By now, the Kingdom of Prussia not only got rid of the food crisis, but also turned from a food importer into an exporter.

Industry has also achieved remarkable results, especially the military industry, under the stimulation of the war, the Prussian military industrial system has completed the renewal, in the world’s top ranks.

Economically, during the post-war recovery period, the Kingdom of Prussia also maintained a high rate of growth. However, with the passage of time, the economic growth rate is now slowing down day by day.

Huge debts have become a major constraint on the continued growth of the Kingdom of Prussia. Every year, more than half of the Berlin government’s revenues are used to pay off foreign debts.

Although this percentage was decreasing, it still left the Prussian treasury on the verge of bankruptcy. If they had not been able to afford the consequences of reneging on their debts, they would have followed the example of the Russians.

The Poles, of course, had a great deal to do with this. They contributed unselfishly to the raw materials for the industry, as well as the market for their products.

Otherwise, the Prussian economy would not have recovered so quickly.

(End of chapter)