Chapter 485: Strategic Contraction

  Chapter 474 Strategic Contraction

Watching the French jumping up and down diplomatically, Franz just laughed it off. Obviously, Napoleon III had not been fully prepared beforehand for this sudden action.

Otherwise, as early as a few years ago, the chips should have been prepared in advance, and this time has been taken out for the exchange of benefits.

In international politics, there is no problem that cannot be solved by interests, if there is then it must be that the interests given are not big enough.

This time, the French took out the interests is really unremarkable, for example: promised Austria annexation of the Ottoman Empire, it is difficult to make Franz moved.

It was not that this piece of meat was not tempting, the key was that it was not easy to digest after eating it. The Ottoman Empire at least has more than 10 million people, is not so easy to solve?

Even if they could be expelled towards Central Asia, the political implications of the extermination of the Ottoman Empire would push Austria into the limelight again.

Even the German Federal Empire, which was close at hand, Franz could put down first, not to mention the Ottoman Empire.

It was not easy to let the French take the thunder, and now they jumped out to share the pressure for them, how could Franz do this kind of money-losing business?

As long as the flag of the Great French Empire is flying in the European continent, Austria can develop without fear of becoming a target.

Unless the French were really able to assimilate Italy, this empire was not a threat. No amount of buying people’s hearts and minds would help, there were too many Italians, more than any one ethnic group within any French nation.

Again, there is a long cultural heritage, not inferior to the French in this regard. No European country can match the Italians for historical heritage except Greece.

As the birthplace of the Renaissance, the enlightenment of modern thought, the Italians still have their own pride, not so easily broken.

Colonial Minister Stephen analyzed, “Your Majesty, the French are strategically contracting overseas, and we are afraid that our pressure will increase.

Especially in the American-Asian region, we are weak there and it is very difficult to compete with the British, we will have to contract in these regions next.”

This is considered one of the drawbacks, without the French to share the pressure, in the American-Asian region and the British against the British, Austria has not yet enough bottom.

Asia is relatively better, the good neighbors of the Austrian colonies are the Dutch, the threat is relatively small. Even if there was a conflict, it could still threaten them in Europe itself.

The Americas are a different story, the Alaska region is the worst, there is absolutely no risk resistance. The British could even seize the place posing as pirates if they were shameless.

Patagonia in Austrian South America also has low risk tolerance, and both Argentina and Chile are a threat.

A few years ago, both countries offered Austria to buy this colony, when the Vienna government quoted an astronomical price of 100 million guilders to scare them off.

Deterred by Austria’s strength, under normal circumstances, they would not dare to be reckless. In case John Bull got involved, the situation might change.

The Central American colonies look strong, but they also face the biggest challenge, the United States of America is eyeing this place, and has already made several tentative purchase requests to Austria.

This group of plantation owners are interested in the land beyond belief, most of the land in the United States was fought over during the Democrat Party’s time in power, and the mainstay of that was the plantation owners.

It wasn’t that they were resting on their laurels now, mainly because they had lost so much in the American Civil War and the European countries were opposed to their expansion.

Austrian Central America is not a barbaric land, after the original immigrants, together with the original residents, now the number of local white people are more than a million.

Plus Indians and a large number of mixed-race children, the total local population of up to more than three and a half million, in Central and South America are not weaker than a country.

However, it is also limited to this, Central and South America is very unlikely to develop, if there is no Austria as a backing, can not go this far.

Want to go further, unless the annexation of Colombia in South America, or Mexico in North America. Neither is easy to do, and both the United States of America and the Confederate States of America are obstacles.

Unless Austria focuses its strategy on the Americas, and invests all its strength in it, it will be almost impossible to do so.

In fact, there has been no foreign expansion in Austrian Central America for several years now. Even to the Panama region, infiltration has been the main focus.

Franz smiled slightly and said very calmly, “No matter, the more colonies are not the better. To this day, the areas that can be colonized have also been divided up, and it is time to stop our expansion.

Not only us, but actually the British have also reached the limit of their expansion, only they haven’t realized it yet.

Now that all the good areas have been divided up, the remaining areas are either hardcore, or just tasteless, abandoned rotten land.

Let the Colonial Department start building next, as long as we localize the African continent, we’ll be strong enough to meet any challenge.”

Having enough advantages, Franz naturally sat back. Even the ongoing war in South Africa, he had no intention of asking about it.

Strength is the bottom line, the Boers in the original time and space were able to exhaust the British. Now Austria’s power in the African continent, how is also equivalent to a hundred and eighty Boer republics, what is there to worry about.

Can be in the African continent foothold of the aristocracy, is not what the wine bag, the real waste has long been dead in the halfway, any one of these people are killed in the fire of war.

Even Franz suspected that their military literacy exceeded that of the regular army, at least the regular army had moral integrity, but these people were capable of doing anything to win.

Humanity and the bottom line were non-existent. It was no joke that colonizers were equal to hitmen. If the charges are pursued, all the colonizers in the world can be counted as one and can be dragged out to shoot at the target.

There may be the occasional wrongful conviction, but that’s just before they’ve had time to commit a crime.

The crows in the sky are all generally black, the major European colonial empires are not so, this cover naturally no one to open.

Now do not take action against the Ottoman Empire, does not mean that never take action against the Ottoman Empire, Habsburg dynasty successive kings of the last wish or to fulfill.

Moreover, Franz was interested in recovering the Holy Land to gain political prestige.

The French threw out the olive branch, Franz still took it, and then there was no then. With the commitment of the Paris government, Austria had the advantage when it came to the future tug of war in the Middle East.

As for the British can be ignored, the establishment of the Great French Empire has divided the Mediterranean Sea into two, John Bull’s power was squeezed out of the Mediterranean Sea is a matter of time.

Even if it occupies the heart of the Mediterranean Sea Malta, what can be done?

Surrounded by the sphere of influence of France and Austria, sandwiched between the two great powers, the British to ensure influence, need to invest too much power.

In the event that one day everyone flipped out, this isolated overseas archipelago, it is simply impossible to hold on to. The more resources invested, the greater the future losses.

The Royal Navy being number one in the world is not the same as being number one in the world in every region, and it’s not unusual for other countries to have regional maritime hegemony.

Austria was not tempted by the French, but it still contributed to the problem of holding Britain at bay, and France and Austria very tacitly sidelined the British in the Mediterranean.

This conflict was played out almost every day all over the world, for example: Austria was squeezed out of the Far East by Britain and France, and did not even keep its interests in Japan.

Another example: the French were squeezed out of the South Seas by the British, Austrians and Dutch, leaving only a few isolated islands struggling to hold on.

And then there was the Australian region, where Austria had just extended its tentacles and was blocked by the British.

……

Similar things that happened too much. Here it’s still an ally, somewhere else everyone becomes an enemy again.

This era is the era of cooperation and confrontation coexisting, as long as there is no tearing up the face of the real sword to do, can become allies.

Allies whose interests truly coincide with each other only exist in theory. In reality, as long as one was able to fulfill the covenant, they were all good allies.

The Vienna government’s approach, Napoleon III did not feel any surprise, everyone is in their own interests as a starting point.

Austria to annex the German Federal Reich is completely different from their annexation of the Italian region, the former has a popular base, there is no need to take risks.

The Vienna government’s choice to stay the course was actually the best option. Incorporating in on your own initiative has completely different consequences than forcing a merger together by force.

Napoleon III also wanted to get the Italians to join France of their own accord if possible, which obviously wasn’t going to happen.

Therefore he could only take the oldest way, the first monarch used force to unite, the second monarch took soft measures to buy people’s hearts, which was the most effective method of ruling in the era of feudal dynasties.

With the merit of ruling the world, the throne was stable. By the third generation, the foundation is firmly established and the orthodox status is established, as long as you don’t make a fool of yourself.

In order to pave the way for his son, Napoleon III also worried a lot.

The biggest victim of the French strategic contraction abroad was Massimiliano I. With the reforms, the Mexican rebels were legion.

If he hadn’t contracted out the business of fighting the rebels to the French, Massimiliano I would have been overthrown by the rebels.

You know that this contract is the pitfall of the French, in order to eliminate the Mexican rebels, these years, the French army has paid at least eight thousand casualties.

In return, most of Mexico’s minerals, tariffs, have fallen into the control of the French, but unfortunately, because of the relationship between the civil war, the final is not enough to cover the expenses.

Without realizing it, the Mexican government was in debt to the French for more than a billion francs, as well as to the British for 8.6 million pounds, and to Spain for more than 30 million pesos.

Notarially, Massimiliano I’s reforms were still somewhat positive for the country, cracking down on conservative forces and modernizing Mexico.

The price to be paid was clear: the emperor became a loner, and the original royalists were on the verge of becoming revolutionaries, except for a group of like-minded idealists.

Now the French were strategically contracting overseas to focus on possible changes on the European continent, which meant that Mexico was about to lose its biggest backer.

Even if Napoleon III was good-natured and did not give up Mexico, the French army in Mexico alone could not deter the stupid Americans.

No one likes an emperor who cries out to reclaim his homeland, and both the United States of America and the Confederate States of America wanted to overthrow Massimiliano I’s rule.

In front of the French backing, the Americas on the issue of Britain, France, Austria and Spain to maintain the principle of unity of the powers, the Americans naturally do not dare to act rashly.

Now is not the same, the French are difficult to protect themselves, Massimiliano I set up the Crown Prince and the Habsburg dynasty fell out, the possibility of Austrian intervention is also very small.

Such a good opportunity, if the Americans do not know how to take advantage of, they do not have the current family business. From the French decided to strategic contraction of the news spread, the United States and the Union States have begun to act.

With the support of outside forces, the Mexican rebels were once again active. Cascading uprisings broke out in Mexico, and once again the rule of Massimiliano I became precarious.

……

(End of chapter)