Chapter 559: The Pit Is Not Easy To Dig
Chapter 547: The Pit Is Not Good
Near East war broke out again, do not want to see Austria continue to expand the country also acted, how to efficiently and connotatively pull back, is also an art.
London.
Inside the Prime Minister’s residence on Downing Street, the British Cabinet gathered. Prime Minister Gholston took out a stack of top secret documents and distributed them to everyone.
“This is the Austrian’s battle planner, which the intelligence services have paid a heavy price to get their hands on, and I hope it can help us in our next move.”
A heavy price indeed, this semi-public battle plan was just about to be published in the Vienna newspapers.
It cost British intelligence a full 50,000 pounds to get their hands on the preliminary plan. Don’t ask what the money was spent on, intelligence is priceless.
The people didn’t say anything and read it carefully. There wasn’t much on the document, only a rough plan that didn’t involve a specific combat section.
Naval Minister Robert frowned, the beard on his face was particularly noticeable: ”According to this battle plan, the Austrians won’t have to spend much to win this war.
With those few broken ships of the Ottoman Empire Navy, against Austria, they don’t even have the ability to fight back. With the loss of sea power, the allied forces can land in any area at any time.
According to the intelligence known to the navy, there were at least thirty ports in the Ottoman Empire suitable for the landing of large armies, and the actual number might be even higher.
To defend so many places, at least millions of troops would be needed. With the national power of the Ottoman Empire, this could not be done.
Once the coastal areas are rotten and a large number of war refugees are created, the Ottoman Empire will soon be dragged down, this scorched earth plan is too vicious.”
Robert’s words, the crowd listened to understand, slamming the Austrians battle plan is ruthless, the main purpose is still emphasizing the importance of “sea power”.
No one objected to the fact that sea power was indeed very important to the British Empire. What happened to the Ottoman Empire is just another proof of this point.
Prime Minister Gholston nodded: “Yes, the Austrian’s plan is indeed very vicious. If we don’t find a way to intervene, it won’t be long before the Ottoman Empire collapses.
And it will still be a complete collapse, unable to even consume the Austrian strength. Without this nail in the back, it will be even harder for us to check Austria.”
Picking up a baton, he pointed it at the map on the wall, “Everyone can look at this world map, which is well labeled.
These blue areas are Austria’s power colonies, or spheres of influence. It’s only been twenty years, and Austria is already second only to us as a colonizing power.
The issue of overseas colonial expansion is not in a hurry, the world is now almost divided, the rest are some hardcore, or relatively low value areas.
Returning our gaze to the European continent, this is the European landscape after the Russo-Prussian War. The Russian Empire was suppressed, and its influence was held down in Eastern Europe.
The Kingdom of Prussia has risen, and France has been revived. Currently, the European countries are holding each other back, and with us in the middle regulating them, we are still able to maintain a balance on the whole.
But we still can not relax vigilance, from the end of the war against France until now, the Austrians through diplomatic means, has been in the European continent in a dominant position.
If Austria twenty years ago, then this is a good thing, they helped us to realize the balance of continental Europe.
But in the last decade or so things have changed, the foreign policy of the government in Vienna has become unintelligible, and their strategic goals have become vague.
The only thing that is certain is that the policy of continental balance is no longer the core strategy of the Vienna government, otherwise the French would not have been able to annex Italy.”
Taking a step back, Gerston looked serious: “In today’s world, there are only two countries that have the power to threaten the hegemony of Britain.” The baton tapped twice on the map, and it was clearly France and Austria.
“Intelligence from Paris, Napoleon III has been bedridden, the Crown Prince is too young to suppress the many forces in the country. Once Napoleon III is dead, this power struggle is inevitable, and the French will not be a threat in the short term.
Austria is different, the domestic political situation is stable, Franz is in the prime of life, and now ambitious to launch the Near East war.
Once the Ottoman Empire collapsed, the next goal of the Viennese government would surely be the annexation of the German Confederation.
They picked a good time to do it; Prussia and Russia were holding each other back and antagonizing each other, and were unlikely to join forces to intervene; France, where the transition of power was taking place, had a high probability that it would not intervene with its troops for the sake of stability.
The rest of the European countries are wallflowers, waving the flag can still be done, to ask them to check Austria is too reluctant. We alone, even if we want to intervene, we are not capable of doing so.”
This is the British most worried about the problem, Austria unified the German region, in the European continent will be a dominant, want to check and balance do not know where to start.
Now is not the original time and space, there are French and German hatred can be utilized. European countries and not stupid, there is not enough interest, how can be confused to rush up and Austria to fight for their lives?
The Vienna government is also good at playing diplomacy, Franz succeeded to the throne so many years, Austria has never been isolated.
The Vienna system had been set up twice, and it could just as well have been set up a third time. Against the backdrop of the Prussian-Russian rivalry, the end of the Ottoman Empire, and the internal strife in France, the success of establishing Austrian hegemony over the continent was very high.
Foreign Minister Maclean: “On the side of the Empire, the Ottoman Empire cannot be allowed to be finished in any case. It is not enough to support the Ottoman Empire, the power gap between the two sides is too great for the Sultan’s government to last long.
It’s too difficult to start directly with Austria, we can only think of a way on Prussia and Russia. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is lobbying the Berlin government to create a conflict on the Prussian-Russian border, and the Central Asian countries can also move to find a way to get the Russians out of the war.
Once the Russians have withdrawn from the war, we will join forces with the French to conduct military maneuvers in the Mediterranean Sea and make a show of intervention to deter the Vienna government.
Franz doesn’t like to take risks and always plans ahead no matter what he does, which is both a strength and a weakness. As long as we create enough noise and pull the European countries together to mediate, the chances of Austria striking out are very high.
If the plan fails, we create trouble overseas to distract the Vienna government.
Austria’s colonial system is not infallible; we can’t move Austrian Africa, and the Central American region is not good enough to move, but other regions are different.”
Finance Minister Laluk Lloyd asked, “This plan sounds good, but where are our interests, we can’t spend so much and gain nothing, right?”
The greatest characteristic of British diplomacy is pragmatism, there is no problem with trying to suppress Austria, but it can’t be to the detriment of Britain’s own interests.
Pulling together the European countries is not a question of words, that is a price to pay, even if it is a small country to help waving the flag, that also needs to be paid for the appearance, which has a cost.
Especially the last approach, directly from the Austrian colonies, requires a greater investment.
Gain not to mention, Austria’s most fertile colonies can not move, the remaining scraps, simply can not see the return.
Alaska that’s ice, a bit of fur at best, or a trip to catch a few fish. If Britain was interested, it would have been in the hands of Britain in the last century, it wouldn’t have had to wait until now.
Patagonia isn’t much better, a colonial stronghold that the Spaniards all but gave up on, and obviously another money loser.
Argentina and Chile have some interest in this land, but they are not bold enough to grab it from Austria, or the temptation is not enough.
Austrian South Seas is relatively fertile, but the cost of seizure is too high, the surrounding even hitman can not be found, unless the British personally on.
But considering the cost, even if the plan succeeded, Britain lost money. Not just lost money, but gained an enemy.
Having put Austria down, the investment was worth it. The most troublesome thing was not fighting it down, forcing France and Austria to move further closer together, that would be a big loss.
McLean stood up, walked to the hanging map and drew a circle with his hand.
“This is the map of Austria now, fully doubled compared to the First Near Eastern War.”
With that, he made another point on the map, “This is the Suez Canal, and once the Ottoman Empire was finished, Austria’s power was connected and its influence spread to the Indian Ocean.
On one side of the Suez is Austria’s Sinai Peninsula, and on the other side is the French’s Egypt. A second exit from the Mediterranean without us having anything to do with it. I’m sure we all have ideas!
This operation may not hurt Austria, but at least we can get our hands on the Suez Canal, and how about turning the French-Austrian co-management into an Anglo-French-Austrian co-management?”
Suez Canal France and Austria look very tight, simply do not give the British the opportunity to intervene, want to intervene in it must first disassociate the French-Austrian relationship.
The London government has been in the efforts, only little effect. Paris government in the pro-British faction, but pro-British does not mean that they have to sell their country.
Napoleon III was not an easy man, and when it came to the question of the Suez Canal, he would not talk to Britain at all. There was no room for negotiation, let alone meddling.
Austria, not to mention, Franz Suez Canal as the lifeblood. The Vienna government was thinking about how to monopolize the Suez Canal, so how could it be possible for the British to intervene?
……
Paris, bedridden Napoleon III couldn’t care less about the war in the Near East. He was at the end of his life, and his ministers didn’t dare bother him with these issues.
In case the emperor was irritated and took the box at the time of the report, then he would become a sinner. Now Napoleon III, not the original time and space that was driven off the throne of the unlucky egg, the French people still support the emperor.
Even if the little emperor is generous and does not care, the spittle outside is also able to kill. In short, the emperor to recuperate far more important than the Near East war.
Presided over the political affairs of the Crown Prince Eugene, influenced by Napoleon III, uncertainty in the case of the choice of “stability”, in order to respond to all changes.
Shouting slogans can be, the Paris government has been calling for restraint on both sides, the actual action is not even. It seems to be looking up to the London government, waiting for the British to take action so that they can wave the flag.
The French this kind of immovable as a mountain approach, so that the British feel a lot of tricky, without this hitman charge, they are really not accustomed to ah!
……
Vienna Palace, Franz put down the newspaper in his hand: “Prussians have not acted yet?”
The reaction of Britain and France was expected by Franz, but the approach of the Berlin government made him a little puzzled.
If the Prussians have no ambition for Poland, Franz would not believe it. But if you have ambition, you should act ah, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity has appeared, the Berlin government did not move a little, what kind of thing is this?
Did Wilhelm I see through his plan? This is also not right, even if the Prussians saw through the plan, they could not have refused to annex Poland.
Even if they were worried that Polish nationalism was too strong, that didn’t affect the two co-rulers. The big deal was to run two sets of government teams, each side running its own affairs.
There are plenty of examples of this, the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the original time period was an upgraded version of the co-ruler system and a degraded version of the unified empire.
Intelligence Head Teren: “No. We have our eyes on the Berlin government, and as of now, they have taken no action.
By the way, in recent times, there have been more meetings in the Berlin palace, sometimes late into the night. The Prussians have strictly blocked the news, and no one knows the exact content of the meetings.
According to the observation of the intelligence officers, the people who attended the meetings came out with a more serious look, and some of them were even gloomy. The preliminary judgment is that there should have been a dispute.”
It was good that there were unusual moves, the worst thing to fear was that there were no moves at all. For big countries, as long as they don’t make big mistakes themselves, it’s hard for the outside world to bring them down.
(End of chapter)