Chapter 744: Two Treaties
Chapter 727 Two Treaties
Time is a killing knife, no matter how much Prussia and Russia insisted, they had to bow down in front of time.
After more than two months of negotiations, July 18, 1881, Prussia and Russia finally in the mediation of the parties reluctantly reached an agreement.
Really reluctantly, both the Tsarist government and the Berlin government were not satisfied with this peace treaty.
It was only the fact that there was not much left in the family that made it necessary to compromise in order to avoid being starved to death.
Just because the war was over didn’t mean there was no money to be spent. Pensions for fallen and disabled soldiers, resettlement of retired officers and soldiers, and economic reconstruction after the war all required large sums of money.
Prussia and Russia did not dare to drain their own pockets, and it was not as simple as financial bankruptcy for the government to have no emergency funds.
If you don’t put the soldiers in place, it’s going to be a big mess. Mutiny is not a big deal, but the biggest fear is that someone will call for a “revolution”.
The British, French and Austrians made it clear that the international community would only consider helping if an armistice treaty was signed.
These days, Britain, France and Austria are the international community, and if the three countries have the same position, the rest of the countries together will not be able to help.
Post-war reconstruction can be delayed, but disarmament and resettlement is imperative, without the financial support of the international community, even the Russian Empire, which won the war, can not withstand.
Prussia and Russia both made concessions, or rather the three countries helped them to make concessions, the content of the treaty:
1. The Kingdom of Prussia admitted defeat and took responsibility for the war;
2, The cession of the regions of East Prussia, West Prussia, and Poznan to the Russian Empire;
3. The Kingdom of Prussia pays 360 million Shenduan to the Russian Empire as war reparations, to be paid in 30 years, with an annual interest rate of 6%;
(Remarks: the first batch of 60 million Shenduns is paid, and thereafter the principal and interest and 1798,652 Shenduns are paid monthly, totaling 707,510,000 Shenduns)
4. After the Berlin government has paid the first installment of the indemnity, the Russian army must withdraw from the territory of the Kingdom of Prussia within one month;
5, Both sides to complete the exchange of prisoners within one month, neither side to collect ransom;
……
The latter reparations and apologies and such are not the point, the real core is just a few items, especially the cession of land and reparations.
The land had already been occupied by the Russians, there was no need for a handover, now all that was left was the money. It was Hanover’s turn to take the field at this point.
To everyone’s astonishment, on July 19, 1881, the Hanoverian government, together with the Berlin government, published the Agreement on Land Transactions between the Kingdom of Prussia and the Kingdom of Hanover, which stipulated:
The Kingdom of Prussia sold the two duchies of Schleswig-Holstein and the territory west of the Elbe to the Kingdom of Hanover for the astronomical price of 210 million pounds.
Not waiting for everyone to slow down from this shocking news, on July 20, 1881, the Hanoverian government signed a £150 million loan agreement with the British financial community. (Approximately 300 million Shendian)
With the borrowed 150 million, plus the 60 million they had raised themselves, in late July 1881, the Hanoverian and Berlin governments completed the most expensive territorial deal in history.
The money was received, which should have been a matter of great satisfaction, but unfortunately it only passed through the hands of the Berlin Government.
The £150 million offered by the British was to be used to prioritize the payment of debts owed to them by the Berlin government, which obviously wasn’t enough, so it was simply gone.
Obvious bullying, but unfortunately there was nowhere to complain and the Berlin government had to admit it.
With the remaining £60 million in hand to pay the Russians’ first war reparations, the figure immediately shrank by half again.
The last 30 million pounds, the Berlin government still can not keep, disarmament resettlement, casualty pensions will be spent almost, after the war reconstruction funds are still do not know where.
A two loans, in reducing the risk of capital at the same time, but also earned two interest, the British let everyone learn what is the financial operation of God.
……
Vienna Palace, looking at the British divine operation, Franz can not help but want to emulate, and finally helplessly found no object of exertion.
Put down the hands of the document, Franz sighed: “Hanover government was able to self-fund 60 million pounds, it seems that we have always underestimated their financial strength, these small states in the German region, may be much richer than we imagine.”
Prime Minister Felix replied, “The Hanover government’s performance is indeed somewhat surprising, but it makes sense.
After entering the modern era, the economy of the North German region has developed rapidly, especially after acquiring the Rhineland region, the overall economy of the German Federal Empire has risen to a new level.
Hanover held the central government, although politically it was not able to control the small states in the country, but economically it was still influencing each other.
The Hanoverian government raised 60 million pounds, which could also be considered as the German federal government raised 60 million pounds.
This was still the result of the central government’s lack of local control, otherwise with the economic situation of the German Federal Reich, this figure would not have any problem doubling again.
However, the price of this territorial deal was still too high, it had greatly exceeded the actual value, and if you wanted to recover the cost by these additional territories, you might not be able to do it for a hundred years.
For a long time to come, the Hanoverian government will have to carry a huge debt, which will greatly affect their economy.”
The German Federal Empire occupied the best part of the German region, the natural conditions were very favorable, more than 70% of the industries of the German Second Empire in the original time and space were located here.
With such a foundation in place, as long as the ruling class didn’t make stupid mistakes, the economy wouldn’t be that bad.
It is because of the developed economy that the Austrian government has so many people, who can’t get enough of this place.
If it were really a poor countryside, with the cultural tradition of Europe, I guess everyone would have long forgotten about this place.
The most typical is the Swiss region, this is still the Habsburg family’s ancestral land, just because the mountainous areas are too poor, everyone will selectively invisible.
Foreign Minister Weissenberg: “Although the bid is a little bit higher, and is also burdened with a huge debt, but the Kingdom of Hanover is not a loss.
They paid so much financially that the Berlin government must have made concessions elsewhere.
If nothing else, the two countries have secretly reached an agreement, and all that’s missing is a suitable time to announce the news to the public.
Theoretically, after the merger of Prussia and Han, they would have the opportunity to really take control of the German Federal Reich and establish the conceived North German Empire.
With the integration of the North German region, these debts will be nothing.”
Everyone said it was expensive, and Franz was embarrassed to say it was cheap. Reality taught him that when disagreeing with the majority, it was best to remain silent if not necessary.
We all have different experiences and look at things differently, so it’s not unusual for us to come to different conclusions.
Franz waved his hand: ”Well, whether Hanover lost, or gained, this is not important.
Their so-called big plan still needs a long time to be implemented, we have plenty of time to think about it.
Now let’s all discuss the application for a loan of 50 million S.H.I.E.L.D. that the Tsarist government has made to us.”
The war was really terrible, and the Russians, who had gotten their war reparations, were still having a money shortage.
It really wasn’t that the Tsarist government was spending money recklessly; the amount of reparations Prussia had to pay was not small, but the first installment was only 60 million guilders.
This figure seems to be large, just compared to the tsarist government mobilized millions of troops, as well as the number of people killed and maimed in the war, it is insignificant.
Most of the soldiers in the Russian army were paid very low, almost negligible salaries, and only a small amount of subsidies were paid in times of war.
Now that the war had been won and everyone was to be discharged, a severance payment was inevitable.
Calculating on the basis of disarming 3 million, paying 20 divine shields per person, all of a sudden 60 million would be gone. Even if it’s a discount, that’s still 30 million divine guilders to pay.
In reality, 30 million divine guilders is definitely not enough. The treatment of officers is not comparable to that of ordinary soldiers, and the standard of severance is naturally different.
Cut the standard?
This is already very underestimated, in Austria this is only two months’ salary of an ordinary worker. People have sold their lives on the battlefield, this price can be said to be low to the limit.
Those who survived were settled, the killed and disabled couldn’t be so hasty, or no one would sell their lives to the Tsar.
With 1,433,000 killed in action and 671,000 disabled, it’s impossible to manage without hundreds of millions of divine guilders. It’s a good thing it can be paid in installments or the Tsar’s government would go bankrupt and wouldn’t be able to come up with the money.
Minister of Finance Karl proposed, “Your Majesty, the Russians are in a very bad financial situation, even after getting Prussia’s war reparations, they are still not out of the crisis.
There is still a huge risk in granting them loans now. Unless the Tsarist government can offer terms we cannot refuse, it is not advisable to undertake loans to Russia.”
More than a huge risk, it is totally a huge pit. The end of the war does not mean the end of the crisis.
Without the orders brought in by the war to consume the extra capacity on the market, the number of companies’ inventories is climbing, and an economic crisis is already brewing.
Once the crisis breaks out, the 100-year-old Kingdom of Prussia will certainly not be able to carry it, the Berlin government declared bankruptcy, and the Russians will not be able to collect the war reparations.
Cut off from this income, the Tsarist government can still hold out, no one knows.
Foreign Minister Weissenberg objected, “Purely from an economic point of view, it would indeed be very unwise to borrow from the Russians now.
But on the side, this is also an opportunity. We can offer higher terms for greater profit.
If the Tsar is willing to fully support our annexation of the Ottoman Empire, I think this loan can still be released.”
“Strike while the fire is burning,” the word surfaced in Franz’s mind and never lingered.
The Ottoman Empire was Austria’s next strategic target, defeating the Ottomans was easy, trying to annex them was harder.
Britain, France and Russia were the biggest obstacles, due to the geopolitical relationship, the Russians in this issue on the right to speak above Britain and France.
Before that, Franz’s plan was to divide the Ottoman Empire with the Russians, but how could it be compared to annexing it alone?
If the Ottoman Empire was to be annexed alone, it would not only connect the mainland with the Middle East, but also extend Austria’s power to Central Asia, which was of great strategic significance.
Soon Franz came to his senses, such a great benefit, certainly not so easy to eat into the stomach.
The Russians are not stupid, there is the British a rival is enough for them to suffer, and then put Austria in, they want to recapture the Central Asian region will be even more difficult.
Franz shook his head, “We can test the Russians, but don’t get your hopes up, the Tsarist government is not at the end of its rope.”
……
(End of chapter)