Chapter 617: Colonization
Chapter 604 Colonization
After half a year of negotiations, Britain, France and Austria finally reached a preliminary agreement. on December 12, 1875, the representatives of Britain, France and Austria signed the Memorandum of Conciliation of International Conflicts in Paris.
This Memorandum, which can actually be regarded as a draft of an international convention, clarified the rules of colonial rivalry. The law of the jungle was still in place, but with a veneer of legalism.
To wit:
1. Actual occupation shall prevail, and the first to occupy shall be the first to win; and
2. The current sphere of influence of the colony shall prevail, and mutual recognition of each other’s sovereignty;
3, Prohibition of mutual interference in the internal affairs of the colonies; (Remarks: specifically, prohibition of supporting local forces, prohibition of arms smuggling, prohibition of exporting nationalism ……)
4, the land of no master to fight for each according to their own ability, under the premise of not involving their own interests, allies are obliged to provide some help;
……
The first three are the key points, it can ease the colonial conflict between the three countries, the fourth point that depends on how it is interpreted.
Help is definitely there, but how strong this is and whether it will help or not will depend on the actual situation.
For example: the colonization team suffered an accident, strayed when the allies in the colony, I guess everyone is very happy to do a favor, to provide them with supplies.
If you want to fight for a strategic location, or a rich colony, you need allies to help, or to take the benefits of talking.
Otherwise, the treaty would not have the precondition of “no self-interest”, which is a disclaimer in itself, because the concept of interest is too big.
This is also normal, if the allies to help for nothing, I guess we will not feel at ease. Britain, France and Austria are not vegetarian, want to take advantage of, how can it be so good?
Perhaps earned here, and lost in other places. International diplomatic games, never think twice before acting.
Often seem to take advantage of, in fact, is a competitor to dig you a huge pit. In this regard, Franz is definitely the best, the best at making competitors happy to jump into the pit.
In contrast, the British are at the other end of the spectrum and are the best at stirring up trouble. You have to be careful when dealing with the British, or you can easily be led astray.
French diplomacy is more balanced, performing well on all fronts without being particularly outstanding.
In contrast, the Pupo Federation and the Russian Empire are much better to deal with, they are impulsive in diplomacy, and are particularly prone to being provoked, or falling into a hole.
This is Franz’s personal summary, and is based on factual information. The Russian Empire has long been ostracized by European society, and poor diplomacy is the main reason.
Otherwise, the period of the war against France was their best chance to integrate into the European world.
After the war as the savior of European countries, the Russians jumped to become the hegemon of the European continent, and they were still excluded from the mainstream circle, there is no one else for this diplomacy.
The Berlin government was too enamored of force and thus neglected the development of foreign relations. This can be seen in many ways, when the Russo-Prussian War period, as a fighter of the Kingdom of Prussia, and Britain and France did not even get a paper alliance.
This is simply sent to the door of the opportunity do not know to take advantage of, do not need the terms of the covenant how favorable, just as long as there is a nominal alliance, in the post-war negotiations can be much more to gain a lot of benefits.
It can be said that without Bismarck, the Berlin government’s diplomacy flunked. Of course, that’s tradition, the Kingdom of Prussia’s diplomacy has never been very good.
Otherwise, the German regional leader would have changed hands in the last century.
Unfortunately, the Kingdom of Prussia won the military and lost the diplomacy, and instead of being defeated, Austria completed its internal reforms because of the external war.
As a winner, the Kingdom of Prussia seemed to have expanded its territory, but in reality, it had more to lose than to gain.
Not only added an enemy, but also lost the hearts and minds of the German lords, and became a treacherous “thief” and “robber” in everyone’s heart.
Such an image naturally can not be the boss, and then the Habsburg dynasty and full blood resurrection, and even annexed Hungary, once again opened up the gap between the two sides of the strength.
……
“When will the international conference be held?”
Franz did not ask the location, Napoleon IV seems to have inherited the characteristics of Napoleon III’s love of the limelight, after succeeding the throne is particularly keen to convene an international conference.
In this regard, the French are particularly generous, as long as the French held an international conference, then the related costs they are all covered.
Of course, this cost is limited to the daily life of the delegation in France, accommodation, as well as the cost of holding the conference.
It may seem that the number of participants in international conferences in this era is small, so the expenses are not much, but the expenses accumulated over time are not a small amount of money.
The British and the Austrians are interested in practical benefits, and usually do not compete with the French for conference venues unless there are special circumstances, as they are not celebrities and do not lack the exposure.
Foreign Minister Weissenberg: “The specifications of this meeting is the ministerial level, we need to coordinate the schedule, the plan is in February next year, the specific date has not yet been determined.”
Franz nodded, involving the distribution of benefits and the establishment of a new international order, the meeting specifications must be high.
If it was low, sending a bunch of delegations that couldn’t make decisions and had to consult the country on everything, then what was there to talk about?
Negotiations involving interests usually take a long time. High-level government officials, on the contrary, they have much more power, many things can make their own decisions, the efficiency of the negotiations will be much higher.
The need to ease international conflicts has become imperative, every day of delay, the colonial government will have to bear huge economic losses, everyone is more anxious.
“Are there any signs of Britain and France leaning in, I mean secretly making contact.”
Before every international conference, everyone would show their skills, pulling in allies as much as possible to seek support in order to get more benefits at the international conference.
This time, the interests involving Austria were not large, and the Vienna government naturally could not spend a large price on public relations, but keeping an eye on Britain and France was still necessary.
Weissenberg shook his head: “Britain and France have contact, but they should not be able to reach an agreement, now Britain and France in the two countries colonies competing for the interests of the conflict is relatively large.
If not with us and the British and the ‘Anglo-Boer War’ as a precedent, both countries are worried about the loss of too much, may now have been in the colonies on the war.
Especially in the Sudan region, the two sides have become as hot as water. It is said that Britain and France have also had a conflict of interest in the Central and Southern Peninsula and the Far East Empire, which is too far away for us to pay much attention to, and we are not yet sure of the exact reasons.
It also involves the Civilian Colonization Corporation, in front of the interests, I’m afraid that both sides will not easily let go. Even if the two governments want to intervene, it will be difficult to make them stop.”
Civilian colonization companies are a unique product of the historical stage, the most famous is naturally the British “East India Company”, the peak of the company’s armed forces are comparable to a medium-sized country.
In a way, the East India Company was more like a country than a business.
So the “country” was swallowed up by bureaucrats, and because of bureaucracy and corruption, the company suffered heavy losses, and the famous East India Company was dissolved last year.
Such colonial companies, of which there were many under each country, were the vanguard of the overseas colonization movement. Influenced by the governments of each country, but not fully controlled by them.
Most of those engaged in overseas colonization and expansion were desperadoes who wanted to get rich. In the face of profit, governmental orders are often ineffective.
A large portion of the conflicts that erupted in the colonies of various countries were caused by private colonization teams. As long as there is profit, there is nothing they dare not do.
Not only externally, even the competition between colonization companies in the same country was just as fierce. If you find two colonization companies fighting, don’t be nervous or surprised, it’s a good thing, it proves that they have made a big discovery.
The intensity of the fight is usually proportional to the profit. If an open-pit gold mine is discovered, there could be a firefight within the colonization team.
On the contrary, the colonial governments under the direct leadership of various countries are more restrained, usually considering the international image, they will think twice before doing anything, and seldom go up recklessly regardless.
Now Britain and France around the colonial issue of conflict, ultimately, or because of the interests, first come first served is right, but at the same time encounter?
This is also the reason why France and Austria want to divide the sphere of influence in Africa, if not divided clearly in advance, with the two colonies that long border line, God knows how many conflicts there will be.
No, it should be said that the desert saved the Franco-Austrian relationship. Because now the boundary between the two colonies, the vast majority of the area is desert.
Desert area value is low, normal people will not risk crossing the desert to look for excitement, there is a desert barrier can not meet, the conflict will naturally be small.
(End of chapter)