Chapter 99: The British Conspiracy

  Chapter 99 – The British Conspiracy

London.

Prime Minister John Russell was having a headache over the Italian issue, and after the Battle of Ossa Venice, he knew things were in trouble, and that perhaps the British Empire’s interests in the Italian region were about to be lost.

“Mr. Palmerston, this Ossa war will be over soon, what position do you think we should hold?” John Russell asked

Foreign Minister Palmerston said unhurriedly, “Your Excellency the Prime Minister, we still have a large amount of interests in the Kingdom of Sardinia, in order to guarantee the interests of the British Empire, the Kingdom of Sardinia must be preserved.

However, the attitude of the Austrians we must also consider, this war was started by the Sardinians on their own initiative, surely they must be given an explanation!”

The world theme of this era is the British-Russian hegemony, the British Empire is not yet bullish, the Austrian Empire is also a member of the powers, the interests that should be taken or can not be deprived of.

Secretary of State Henry John Temple frowned and said, “Mr. Palmerston, the problem now is that the Austrians won’t take it lying down, and no great power can tolerate dignity being provoked without doing anything about it.

The Sardinians have already pissed off the Austrian government this time, and for that reason they have not hesitated to compromise with the French, and intelligence from Paris suggests that a secret treaty may have been signed between France and Austria.

If France and Austria join forces now, then the Kingdom of Sardinia will be history, and even our opposition will be of no avail!”

On the issue of Italy, Britain, France and Austria have the most power of speech, because of geopolitics, the Italian region has always been the focus of the struggle between France and Austria, and the British mediate in the middle to maintain the balance.

In order to better restrain France and Austria, after entering the 19th century, the British spread the idea of unification in Italy, and after the outbreak of the European Revolution, the government in London began to support the unification of Italy by the Kingdom of Sardinia.

There is no doubt that this time they played bouncy. Austria just extended a hand to cripple the Kingdom of Sardinia, and even went so far as to collude with the rival French in an attempt to partition Italy.

Palmerston said with a slight smile, “Mr. Temple, things are not that bad, the French are full of internal conflicts, and they change governments faster than a woman changes her clothes.

What the previous government stood for politically doesn’t mean that this government agrees with it, and if that’s not possible we can still wait for the next government.

As long as we put diplomatic pressure on them, the French government is not energized to expand outwards, without the French involved, Austria doesn’t have that good of an appetite to eat the Kingdom of Sardinia in one bite.”

Hearing Palmerston’s analogy, the crowd laughed, for mocking France, their arch enemy, the British never minced their smiles.

If it was France and Austria joining forces, there was no saying, there was nothing anyone could do to stop them from dividing Italy.

But now the French are not in the state, only a few months after the establishment of the republican government, have changed several governments.

Originally, the British also intended to support a pro-British government, but after seeing the speed of the French to change the government, they stopped the action.

There was no way they could not keep up the pace. The French also had internal revolutions every now and then, and there were a lot of disorganized power groups.

Who knows who will be at the end of the line?

If they invested in the wrong target, it would be a waste of resources, but it would be a big loss if they gained another enemy.

After a pause, Prime Minister Russell once again asked, “Mr. Palmerston, how is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs going to convince the Austrian government? If they insist on destroying the Kingdom of Sardinia, what measures is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs going to take?”

His meaning was clear, the strength of the British Empire’s participation in the Italian question was limited to diplomacy.

To directly send troops to help the Sardinian Kingdom fight the war would be a no-brainer. Whether it can win or not, let alone, under the basic national policy of continental balance, Austria is also an essential part of the British continental policy.

Palmerston thought for a moment and said: ”Your Excellency the Prime Minister, the Austrian Empire has just gone through a civil unrest, the Hungarian rebellion has not been extinguished so far, the most important issue for them right now is to deal with the internal conflicts.

They should have no plans to annex the Kingdom of Sardinia, even the Austro-French secret pact might be a front, that old fox Metternich can’t be dealt with well, this time the Kingdom of Sardinia will inevitably have to hemorrhage.

If the interests of the Italian region can’t satisfy the Austrians, then let’s appease them with the interests of the Balkans, and let them go and fight with the Ottomans for Near Eastern hegemony!”

This was the British Empire’s best maneuver – to move the scourge to the east of the river. The weak nature of the Ottoman Empire had not yet been exposed, and on the face of it, they were among the Great Powers.

The Habsburg dynasty and the Ottoman Empire is a hundred years old enemy, from the Middle Ages until now, the two sides have experienced the size of the battle, not a thousand or eight hundred, hatred has long been buried.

“The situation in the Near East is already complicated, if we encourage Austria to enter, the situation will become even more chaotic, if the Austrian government and the Russians join forces, can we control it?” Secretary of State Henry John Temple questioned.

Austria and the Ottoman Empire were sworn enemies, and the conflict between the two sides was deep, if the British Empire was behind it, the Austrian government surely wouldn’t mind suppressing this arch-enemy.

But the problem was that the Russians and the Ottoman Empire were also world enemies. Russia and Austria were on the other hand allies, so if they had a common enemy, it would be hard to keep them from joining forces.

Palmerston explained with confidence: “Russia and Austria are allies, but in the Balkans, they also have a conflict of interest.

Austria has long been eyeing the Danube basin, but the Russians have no end to their appetite, their conflict is a matter of time, and then the Russian-Austrian alliance, which is a headache for us, will naturally fall apart!”

Interest is always the best catalyst, and now that the British’s greatest enemy is the Russians, a lot of foreign policy is centered around them.

Want to crush Russia as a rival is not easy, unlike any previous enemy, the hairy bear not only has a strong army, but also in the easternmost part of Europe, in the geographical location first invincible.

To defeat the Russians, it was necessary to first polarize and isolate their allies, and the British were patient in this regard.

……

Vienna.

After the victory at the Battle of Venice, Franz was thinking about the aftermath, for Austria, the Italian region was like a piece of chicken ribs, which was not good enough to eat, but to be discarded.

Occupying Sardinia was easy, but ruling it was difficult.

“Mr. Metternich, what did the French say, when will they send troops?” Franz asked with concern

Sardinia Kingdom is not good to rule, but that doesn’t stop him from using it to trap people, if he can lull the French in, then the British Empire won’t have the effort to keep an eye on Austria.

(It’s on the shelves next Friday, it’s already confirmed, so everyone cover Hai Yue then ha!!!)

Push the book “Three Kingdoms Zhao for the emperor”, write Zhao Yun’s hegemony text, the old author will not eunuch!

(End of chapter)