Chapter 683: A War Without Smoke
Chapter 668 – War Without Smoke
The year 1879 was a turning point for the whole world, both politically and economically, affected by the Russo-Prussian War.
Affected by the tension of the situation in Europe, France and Austria are staring at the European continent, did not go out to do things, the British are only in South America inserted a foot, the main energy is also placed in the European continent.
The three big rogues did not make things happen, other countries, not to mention.
These days, the political sensitivity of the colonial empire is very high, and the situation on the European continent is tense not to concentrate on the mainland, in case the situation gets out of control how to do?
Colonial empires are not messing things up, for those precarious independent countries, is undoubtedly a good news, finally can live a few days of comfort.
When the Russo-Prussian War started, even the conflicts between Britain, France and Austria were suppressed. For the sake of common interests, the three great powers stood together early.
Of course, this alliance of interests is not reliable, once the international situation has undergone a major change, or the strength of the three countries is out of balance, this alliance may fall apart at any time.
If the impact of the Russo-Prussian War on the international situation lies more in the post-war period, then the impact on the world economy is immediate.
There are many industries affected, almost every field, of which agriculture, manufacturing, financial and service industries enjoy the greatest dividends.
In the capitalist economic world, a new round of prosperity has begun. The most typical is that the agricultural crisis disappeared, the manufacturing overcapacity no longer exists, and the booming economy directly promotes the development of the financial and service industries.
Even though the war has only just begun, and the greatest dividends from the war, have not yet fully exploded, the capitalists are full of confidence.
A large amount of hot money had already poured into the market, and the economic environment suddenly got better all of a sudden. Advertisements for laborers could be seen in the streets and alleys, and in fields related to the war, workers’ wages had seen a small increase.
According to the statistics, the amount of new investment in Austria in November alone was as high as 160 million God’s Guilders, an increase of seventy-six point four percent from the same period last year.
Most of this money, for the most part, flowed into the manufacturing sector, and with a factory going up, it was clear that investors were very optimistic about the opportunity.
Not just Austria, but the entire European continent. Capital is like madness, constantly pouring into all walks of life, wanting to have a share in the Russo-Prussian War.
Looking at the statistics, Franz frowned: “Now the market is too hot, the consumption of the war is big, but the purse of Prussia and Russia is a little ……
Whether it is Britain, France, or us, we will not give them unlimited funds. It won’t be long before a new round of overcapacity breaks out, and I’m afraid the European economy will wail after the war.”
Economy Minister Reinhardt Haldegen explained, “Your Majesty, this is an inevitable law of economic development. In the previous few wars, many people have made a fortune, and they have been blinded by profit, ignoring the risks.
This is true not only domestically, but throughout the European world. According to the estimates of economic experts, in the last two months, the amount of new investment in Europe has increased by at least fifty percent compared to the same period last year.
Post-war overcapacity will become a common problem for all European countries. This is a huge trouble and equally a heavenly opportunity.
As long as we seize this opportunity, we can take advantage of it to crush the French manufacturing industry and weaken this biggest competitor.”
There is no such thing as anti-dumping these days, free trade is the mainstream of the times. The French still didn’t resist the pressure and joined the free trade system six months ago.
The core of “free trade” is that the government removes restrictions and impediments to import and export trade, removes all privileges and preferences for imported and exported goods, and allows goods to be freely imported and exported and to compete freely in both domestic and foreign markets.
On the face of it, this is beneficial to everyone, as it allows for a global market at the same time and removes obstacles to the flow of goods.
In reality, there is also a gap between enterprises and enterprises, and between countries and countries, and this gap is directly reflected in market competitiveness.
Undoubtedly, resource-poor France, in this round of competition is at a disadvantage. Imported raw materials for the sake of directly raising the cost of production.
In order to cut costs, capitalists naturally want to reduce workers’ wages, and the influx of cheap labor in Italy has created favorable conditions for the reduction of wages.
In the last ten years, the per capita wage in Europe has increased by 23.8 percent, while the per capita wage in Great France has only increased by 5.4 percent.
Against this background, the conflict between the French and Italian populations is naturally endless, even if the government in Paris is trying to suppress, but still little effect.
Regrettably, even with the suppression of labor wages, the international competitiveness of most French industrial and commercial products remained low.
It can’t be helped, who let this year’s labor costs are cheap? In addition to labor-intensive industries, the vast majority of industrial and commercial products less than one-fifth of the total cost of labor, or even less.
Occupying the bulk of the production cost is industrial industrial raw materials, do not solve the problem at the source, how to improve market competitiveness?
The market is a whole, in the depression of labor costs at the same time, also weakened the market purchasing power.
Despite the fact that Great France has a population of 60 million people, the market consumption power can not catch up with John Bull, which has only more than 30 million people.
The market consumption power can not, and feedback back to the industrial production, forcing enterprises to produce cheaper goods, this is a vicious economic cycle.
Taking coal as an example, the cost of coal for the French industry is 1.3 times that of Austria, and in some inland areas it is even more than 2 times.
This is just the beginning. High coal prices lead to higher power generation costs, which in turn leads to higher electricity bills, and high electricity prices are undoubtedly the biggest obstacle to the promotion of electricity.
One slow step at a time, there is no promotion of electricity, and there is no way to talk about electricity-powered mechanical equipment.
Affected by this, the upper reaches of the power machinery and equipment manufacturers, development is limited, unable to invest in research and development of more advanced equipment, in the international competition gradually lag behind.
Downstream equipment users, because of the lack of timely adoption of the most advanced productivity, in the market competition by rivals beyond, or even eliminated.
In this era of the law of the jungle, lagging behind will be beaten. The French military strength is strong enough, no one to beat them for no reason, but economically it is different, we are competitors, under the black hand is inevitable.
As long as you can crush your competitors, it is naturally worth paying some price. Under the free trade system, large-scale overcapacity appeared, countries have to spell industrial strength.
This aspect of the Vienna government has confidence, Franz also have confidence. Because Austria’s infrastructure construction, is the complete king of contemporaries.
Not only is the transportation developed, or the earliest popularization of electricity in Europe, and is the birthplace of the second industrial revolution, the field of emerging industries in the forefront of the world.
In this regard, Britain and Austria are two extremes, one focusing on emerging areas, a focus on traditional industries, have become the industry hegemony. This creates favorable conditions for cooperation between the two countries.
Franz: “In that case, let the crisis come more violently! It is best to destroy the manufacturing industry along with the European and American countries, as a clearing house before the curtain is drawn.
This time it can be done in cooperation with the British capitalists, letting private enterprise take the lead and not involving the government directly. As soon as the Russo-Prussian War is over, launch it together and start this capital war.”
A war without smoke is sometimes even more brutal. The destruction brought about is in no way weaker than a war.
It is conceivable that it will not be long before unemployment and bankruptcy, once again, become the hot topics of the whole society.
After a moment of contemplation, Economics Minister Reinhardt Haldgen: “As long as the country has joined the free trade system, it’s all very well.
The United States of America has some difficulties, they still stubbornly implement trade protection policies, and it is very difficult to pry open their doors.”
Learn from your mistakes. The American capitalists were the ones who were scourged by British capital a couple of times, and are now so frightened that they have simply closed their doors and played by themselves.
Anyway, their own resources are rich, directly cottage European countries of technology, in addition to their own market is a little smaller, small life is not bad.
Franz: “This issue is left to the Foreign Ministry. The British are the pioneers in promoting free trade.
We can all join together to put pressure on the United States, joining in is half of our own people, if they are stubborn, then there is no need to be polite.
Since they want to play with trade protection, simply let them have enough of it, and an international embargo is a good choice.”
To be honest, these days the United States of America’s industrial and commercial products, there really isn’t much competitiveness, a lot of products can’t even compare to the Russians.
If they don’t have trade protection and open their doors to competition, they will absolutely die a miserable death.
Franz does not expect the United States to be able to completely open the market, as long as the opening of a doorway is enough, really not smuggling is also acceptable.
On the issue of fighting competitors, Franz never gives up any opportunity.
Prime Minister Felix: ”Your Majesty, I’m afraid that the post-war economic crisis will be very disastrous if we give it another push.
If the crisis lasts too long, it’s possible that the situation on the European continent will be broken again, and we’re not ready for that.”
Man-made disasters were the most terrifying, especially this kind of man-made disaster that could only manipulate the beginning and could not control the end, the destructive power was even better.
With the advent of the industrial age, the economy had an increasing impact on the political situation. Because of the deterioration of the economy, there were countless situations that led to turmoil, and the ones that led to the outbreak of wars were not even in the minority.
Franz shook his head: ”There isn’t that much time to prepare, we can never be fully prepared, and by the time we are ready, the opportunity is missed.
Besides, just because we don’t take action doesn’t mean that the British won’t either, instead of being passive and responding to the war, we should take the initiative.”
Age tends to be conservative, not that conservatism is bad, in fact, for a large country, conservative often also means that the country’s fortunes are long-lasting, radical is the disaster of a country.
It’s just that the opportunity is too rare, once you miss this opportunity, and then want to take action, the price you need to pay is not half a star.
To put it bluntly, Franz is not living in peace. In addition to not daring to take risks in the military, in the economic field, he still didn’t mind trying.
If it succeeded, it would be the best; if it failed, the unlucky ones would be the speculators. The Vienna government’s experience in dealing with economic crises was already very rich, and could not hurt the country’s fundamentals.
(End of chapter)