Chapter 581: London Conference
Chapter 568 The London Conference
The year 1874 was destined to be an extraordinary year, in addition to the Near East War and the Russo-Polish War, the Asia-Pacific region was also unstable.
First, the French and the Annamese government signed the Treaty of Peace and Alliance between France and Annam, followed by the outbreak of the Japanese war against Taiwan.
The latter, needless to say, naturally ended in failure. The Treaty of Peace and Alliance between France and Annam sounds harmonious, but in fact, it is just a nice name, and in essence, it still serves the purpose of colonial invasion.
After such a long period of strategic contraction, someone within France was not happy about it. The world had been carved up and there was just a little bit of edge left, if we slowed down then we wouldn’t be able to get anything out of it.
Paris government power struggle, no intention to make things outside, still can not stop the domestic colonial expansion of enthusiasm.
Colonial expansion is not necessarily all by fighting, for example: this time and the Annamites signed a treaty, relying on diplomatic fraud, even coaxed and tricked to fool the Annamese government to sign.
Seemingly ordinary treaty, but in fact for France to interfere in the internal affairs of Annam to provide a legal basis. Regardless of what the Annamese thought, it was enough for the French to have an argument that was acceptable to the European countries.
Britain, France and Austria were already allied, and the relaxed international situation created an opportunity for the French to expand in the Central and Southern Peninsula.
The Central South Peninsula was not within the scope of Austria’s colonization plan and did not involve its own interests, so naturally the Vienna government would not jump out to act as a justice.
……
Vienna Palace, Franz’s attention was drawn to the Kingdom of Poland and turned into a spectator, watching the Prussian-Russian show.
Foreign Minister Weissenberg reported, “Two days ago, reinforcements from the Kingdom of Prussia arrived at the front line, and yesterday there was a skirmish with the Russian army.
But both sides showed great restraint and it looked like a show. The Russians have now occupied most of the Polish Ukraine, about one-third of the Polish territory.
Initially, this would be the payment promised to the Russians by the Berlin government. Next the two countries will probably sit down and negotiate to sit down what was agreed upon.
As a result of this, this morning the British Minister sent an invitation to all European countries, including us, offering to form an international intervention league to mediate in this war.
The government in London can’t sit still, the smokescreen we put out some time ago has had its effect. In order to curb our and the French’s continued expansion across the continent, the British can’t help themselves.”
The Russo-Polish War, the election for the Polish throne, such a big deal, and France and Austria are looking on coldly, it would be a wonder if this isn’t a problem?
It wasn’t a complete lack of action, Franz was still calling for restraint, to sit down and talk things over. The Paris government has also warned Prussia and Russia not to play with fire.
Specific actions? Unfortunately, France and Austria are too busy to meddle in such trivial matters.
Can let France and Austria do not interfere, this naturally behind the interests of the deal. A little analysis of the British can guess the content of the deal, there is no need to sabotage.
If you don’t stir things up, it’s still John Bull?
Franz nodded: “Things have come to this point, the next public opinion pressure we face will be very big, the British are playing a big game.
The government has to do a good job of guiding public opinion, we can’t let the British lead the way, or else there will be a big mess.”
From all indications, Franz judged that the British wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to provoke a Franco-Austrian conflict and at the same time to divide the relationship between Austria and the German Confederation.
This was a phallic plot that could not be avoided; the French wanted to annex the Rhineland, and for the sake of political correctness, the government in Vienna could only stand up against it.
The German region had been divided for many years, and the individual states were used to being their own masters. Under the pressure of nationalism, everyone was forced to act as if they were in favor of unification, but in reality they still wanted to keep their independent kingdoms.
The Austrian power possessed the strength to unify the German region, and the top levels of the governments of the various states were forced to move closer to the Vienna government in order to preserve their own interests.
However, once they realized that Austria could not unify the German region under the hold of the Great Powers, or that they were strong enough to get rid of this threat, then the situation would change.
Just as the current Kingdom of Prussia, simply withdraw from the German region, do not call themselves a German state, and play the Kingdom of Greater Prussia.
Knowing what he knew, in reality Franz could only react passively. Even if the Franco-Austrian conflict broke out, the two sides could not fight.
The only bordering area was in the Italian region, where the French still had no mass base despite the fact that they had occupied the Kingdom of Sardinia for many years.
This is the aftermath of Napoleon III eating his words back then and not having a juridical base. More than ten years have passed and the local people still don’t agree with the French rule
If they were to fight Austria in the Italian region, they would have no area to labor and go deep into enemy territory, not only would they have to fight the Austrian army, but they would also have to watch out for the civilian guerrillas.
The head of the Italian League of Independence was the former King of Sardinia, a ready-made pawn. If the French didn’t move, no one could do anything about them, and with one big defeat on the battlefield, the fragile Great French Empire could collapse.
Overall, it was more favorable to Austria for the Greater French Empire to exist longer. Not only could it help Austria share the international pressure, but it also accelerated the national integration movement in Lombardy and Venetia.
When there were a whole bunch of states in the Italian region, the Italians in Lombardy and Venetia also wanted to be independent, and the national integration progressed very poorly.
Since the French annexed the Italian region, the national independence movement in Lombardy and Venetia fell into a slump all of a sudden.
This round of social venomous beatings brought many people to their senses. Instead of supporting the independence movement, the local capitalists were actively moving closer to Austria.
In the last few years, the popularity of the Austrian language and writing in the region has been quickened all of a sudden. Newspapers, books, and advertisements on the streets are all in Austrian, and the traditional Italian language has been abandoned.
The social climate has changed; not knowing Austrian is stigmatized and it has become difficult to move around the city, and no capitalist will hire a worker who doesn’t speak Austrian.
Before his death, Napoleon III tried to emulate the Austrian policy of national integration, but was forced to abandon it just as it had begun.
It was not easy to be a socialist emperor, and with the increase in social welfare benefits, financial expenses inevitably increased.
In addition to the problem of financial resources, there was also the resistance of the Italian local governments. The French had forcibly annexed Italian regions without being able to replace all the local officials with Frenchmen.
Without the cooperation of local officials, how could the policies of the central government be implemented?
This is different from Lombardy and Venetia, when Franz pushed for national integration, there were hundreds of thousands of Germans in the area and a group of aristocrats who were loyal to the Habsburgs, and if they didn’t listen, they would be replaced, and there was no worry about the lack of supporters.
All Italians, how can the French government replace them? Even if they are replaced, they will still be passive. If you want to establish a local government loyal to the French Empire, it is not something that can be accomplished overnight.
The policy of national integration, which Napoleon III could not carry out, would only become more difficult in the hands of Napoleon IV.
Unable to truly realize national integration, Great France was a powder keg that could explode at any time.
Enemies with weaknesses are not to be feared, and with the French having such obvious weaknesses, Franz naturally did not worry about France getting bigger.
……
The German Federal Empire was a joke in itself, and Franz never worried about the alliance becoming a threat.
When the European countries wanted to force them to be upgraded to an empire, in addition to the existence of kingdoms within the German Confederation, they were more worried about the peaceful evolution of Austria to achieve unification.
No amount of relationship stirring by the British could change the nature of both sides being culturally homogenous. The ruling class also had to consider the feelings of the populace, and there was no way for the Kingdom of Prussia to get rid of the influence of German nationalism, let alone the German Federal Empire.
……
Called by the British government, on July 16, 1874, an international conference of European countries was held in London to discuss the settlement of the ongoing Russo-Polish and Near Eastern wars.
In the Austrian embassy in London, Britain and Austria were having secret talks.
Marquis Maclean, British Foreign Secretary: “Your Excellency the Minister, this world needs peace, and a stable Europe is the foundation of world peace.
On the issue of maintaining stability in Europe, the interests of our two countries are the same, and it is now necessary for your country to come up with more positive measures to contribute for the sake of European stability.”
Austrian Minister Hummel smiled slightly and put down the coffee in his hand, “Your Excellency the Minister, we are also happy to work for world peace, but the facts tell us that world peace needs to be maintained by all republics.
Maintaining the stability of the European continent is a responsibility shared by all European countries, not one or two. We have done enough for the stability of Europe.
The lessons of history tell us that sometimes doing too much is counterproductive. A little indulgence once in a while may have unexpected gains.”
There was no doubt that Hummel was talking about the Metternich era. Back then, the Vienna government was an active defender of European order, yet Austria’s greatest interests in maintaining European stability were taken by the British.
After the war against France, Europe was stable for thirty years, creating favorable conditions for British overseas colonial expansion. And Austria, which tried to maintain the European order, locked itself in the European continent, incapable of colonial expansion.
It was not until Franz succeeded to the throne and the Vienna government abandoned Metternich’s strategy of balancing Europe that it was able to catch the train of colonial expansion.
McLean is not moved, as if nothing happened, said: “that may not be, let the situation develop is also a risk. Once the situation gets out of control, everyone will lose even more.
Instead of letting the situation develop, it is better to take the initiative. I’m sure your country doesn’t want to see the French continue to expand.
If we let them get the Rhineland region, I’m afraid that Belgium will be difficult to preserve, and even the German Federal Empire will be cut by them.”
This was the inevitable result, getting the resources of the Rhineland region would further strengthen France.
It would be almost impossible to stop them from annexing the territories west of the Rhine at that point. For Austria, this had already exceeded the bottom line of tolerance.
Hummel nodded: ”All of Europe does not want to see this happen, and we are naturally no exception. I don’t know what plans your country has, as long as we can stop this from happening, we are happy to cooperate.”
……
(End of chapter)