Holy Roman Empire

In this context, Napoleon III immediately negotiated with the Russians after taking advantage of the Crimea battlefield in history, without taking into account the feelings of the British allies, because the French needed the Russians to contain John Bull.

The complicated international relations caused Franz a headache.Before going out to open up overseas colonies, Austria and other countries basically did not have much conflict of interest.

Once this step is taken, the situation will be different immediately.Conflicts with colonial countries are a matter of time. How to deal with these relations is the biggest problem facing the Austrian Foreign Ministry.

On the other hand, the British also did a good thing.Although they were worried about missing the opportunity to contain the Russians in order to avoid the outbreak of war on the European continent, the establishment of the German Federal Empire also avoided the direct conflict between France and Austria.

Regardless of how strong this buffer is, with this buffer, the governments of France and Austria do not have to face the military pressure of the other side.

Franz feared the French, so why didn't Napoleon III fear Austria?On the surface, the strengths of the two major countries are evenly matched, and Western Europe and Central and Southern Europe have formed a balance.

Balance means stability, and neither Paris nor Vienna will rashly break this balance until sufficient interests emerge.

If the French want to expand their colonies outside, they must increase their naval investment. For the sake of local security, easing relations with Austria is an inevitable choice.

The Vienna government, which also wants to join this feast, must also ease the relationship between the two countries for its own safety.

In this context, the warming up of the relations between France and Austria has become inevitable.The joint mediation of the Greek issue has created an opportunity for the relationship between the two countries.

Chapter 122 Terrible Disease

Versailles Palace

The foreign minister, Auvergne, said: "Your Majesty, the Minister of the new Holy Roman Empire in Paris has sent us a diplomatic note proposing joint action between our two countries on the Greek question.

It seems that the Vienna government is worried that the British will take the opportunity to annex the Kingdom of Greece, threatening their interests. "

The population of Greece in this era was just over one million. After this war, the young and strong in Greece suffered serious losses.

If the British intended to turn the Kingdom of Greece into their colony, it would not be very difficult.

This worry is obviously not superfluous. The annexation of Greece can bring a lot of benefits to the British strategically. It can not only block the Russians from entering the Mediterranean Sea, but also increase their voice in the Near East.

The Paris government is also very worried about this situation.The cake in the Near East is only that big. If the British take more, they will inevitably crowd out their local interests.

Napoleon III thought for a while and said: "The annexation of the Kingdom of Greece by the British is very detrimental to our Near East strategy. Send someone to talk to the Austrians. As long as the conflict of interests is not serious, we will take joint action with them."

Against the British alone, Napoleon III was still very timid, but he was fearless when he went with Austria.In this era, the gap in strength between Britain, France, Russia and Austria has not widened. Even if the British have the advantage, they cannot be one against two.

Common interests are always the basis of cooperation. France and the new Holy Roman Empire are competing for European hegemony. Logically speaking, the two sides should be full of contradictions.

But now the European overlord is still the Russians. Before Mao Xiong fell, the two countries were just substitute players, and it was not time to turn their faces.

Affected by the Anti-French War, every move of France on the European continent will be closely watched by everyone.

In this context, any foreign expansion actions of France on the European continent may be misinterpreted by the outside world and met with joint boycotts by everyone. The Paris government has to keep a low profile at this time.

The new Holy Roman Empire is also keeping a low profile. Although Austria has been developed by Franz for more than four years, this development has only allowed Austria to keep up with the times and has not formed an advantage over other countries.

After the annexation of South Germany, the newly established Holy Roman Empire has entered a period of internal integration, and has no energy to do things in the short term. Franz has no plans to compete for European hegemony.

The two are very peaceful, and the conflict between France and Austria has not reached the point of ignition, which will undoubtedly create favorable conditions for the next cooperation.

The Minister of the Interior Pesini analyzed: "Your Majesty, the purpose of the Austrians may not be so simple.

According to what we know, since the failure of the unification of the German region, the voice of the Vienna government advocating the opening of overseas colonies has begun to rise.

Now that the situation on the European continent has stabilized, the way for the Austrians to unify the German region has been broken, and Russia and Austria in the Balkans should have reached an agreement.

Whatever the outcome of the war in the Near East, Austrian expansion on the European continent had reached its limit.Even the benefits they obtained in the Balkans, whether they can eat it in the end is a question mark.

In this context, the Austrians are likely to abandon the national policy of the Metternich era and restart their overseas colonial strategy.

We need to prepare in advance, and a new opponent will enter the field in the future. "

Not long ago, the Paris government determined the next national policy—temporarily abandoning expansion on the European continent and concentrating on developing overseas colonies.

Now that Austria has joined overseas colonial activities, the French naturally have to be vigilant.

It is still the age of sailing, and the navies of various countries have not yet opened up an epoch-making distance in terms of technology. It is not so difficult for a well-established European power to explode its navy.

Of course, this is not to say that the French would be afraid if Austria joined overseas colonization.On the contrary, the French had an absolute advantage over Austria in overseas colonization.

However, there is not only one Austrian competitor for overseas colonization, but everyone has many opponents. Usually, everyone restrains each other when they compete for colonies.

As long as it is not a competition for core interests, it is basically just a game of power in a certain area, and it is rare to fight with all your strength.

If a fight starts when there is a disagreement, then the winner takes all.Obviously this is impossible. There are so many competitors, and if one is suppressed, new countries will emerge.

After going on like this, they are busy suppressing their opponents, so they don't have the energy to open up colonies.There is also a limit to colonial expansion, and blind expansion is likely to lose the bottom line.

Not all land has colonial value; even the same region, ruled by different countries, has different benefits in the end.

Colonies with no strategic value and mediocre economic value usually belong to whoever occupies them first; if a colony with high strategic value and rich profits, then a fight between dragons and tigers is naturally indispensable.

After the middle of the 19th century, countries had disputes over overseas colonies, but very few wars between colonial empires were triggered by competing for colonies.

The reason is that the most fertile land has been divided up by everyone, and the remaining land is not worth starting a war.In the final analysis, everyone is out for profit, and no one does money-losing business.

After contemplating for a moment, Napoleon III said confidently: "For us, this should be a good thing. The Austrians started overseas colonization, which is bound to increase the development of the navy.

In this way, the military pressure on our homeland will be much smaller.Compared with the Austrians, our advantage at sea is much greater than on land.

Due to geographical location, the Austrians are at a natural strategic disadvantage in the struggle for overseas colonies.

Unless they are only developing towards the African continent in the Mediterranean Sea, and going to other regions to develop, they have to pass under our noses, and they have to pass under the noses of the British.

The more power they invest overseas, the less they dare to turn against us diplomatically in the future, otherwise we can grab their necks at any time. "

After speaking, Napoleon III's expression darkened.The situation in Austria is indeed as he said, opening up overseas colonies is at a disadvantage, exposing its weaknesses to them.

But the British who mastered the Strait of Gibraltar, didn't they get their necks stuck?Once a war breaks out between the two countries, the British can divide the French navy into two at any time, so that they cannot look at each other head to tail.

Why did the Austrian government give up establishing colonies overseas? Is it really because they are not interested in the benefits brought by the colonies?

It is obviously impossible, and everyone knows that overseas colonization can bring huge benefits.But for overseas colonization, Austria's geographical location is too bad, and they suffered a disadvantage in the process of overseas colonization.

It’s okay if it doesn’t develop and grow. With the strength of Austria, the colonies with average strategic value and economic value can still be kept. Once they encounter fat meat, they will definitely not be able to grab Britain and France.

Just for a few colonies with low strategic value and low economic value, a lot of financial resources were invested in the development of the navy. In the eyes of the previous Austrian government, such efforts were not directly proportional to the returns.

But the times are changing. With the development of industrialization, the overseas colonies, which seemed to be tasteless in the past, have once again shown their value.

Don't look at Austria's geographical location as a disadvantage, but Franz knows that with the development of naval technology, this weakness will become smaller and smaller in the future.

In the era of sailing warships, Austria’s overseas colonies traveled thousands of nautical miles farther than Britain and France. This was very fatal and meant a double increase in costs and risks.

However, with the advent of the age of ironclad ships and the use of steam engines on warships, the problem of distance is being gradually solved.

Especially after the opening of the Suez Canal, the voyage of Austria rushing out of the Mediterranean Sea into the Indian Ocean, Pacific Ocean, and Atlantic Ocean will be greatly reduced, and the safety will be greatly improved.

This is also one of the reasons why the Vienna government eased relations with France. The excavation of a canal to connect the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea has been proposed by Franz.

This can only be done through cooperation with the French. Austria's right to speak in Egypt is still too low. Even if Franz strengthened his penetration into this area after he succeeded to the throne, it is impossible to catch up in a short time.

……

On the Crimean Peninsula, Britain, France and Russia fought a tragic war.Casualties on the battlefield are still within the tolerance of all parties.

However, the humid climate, a wide variety of small insects, and the invasion of vicious schistosomes have brought about the spread of diseases and caused a large number of non-combat attrition, which is unbearable.

By the spring of 1854, the number of non-combat attrition of the Allied forces exceeded the number of battlefield casualties for the first time.Of course, the Russians were not spared, but they were more able to adapt to the local climate than the coalition forces, and the number of non-combat attrition was relatively small.

Fitzroy Somerset, the commander of the Russian army, never dreamed that it was not the arrival of new equipment that equalized the casualties between the enemy and us, but the disease helped a lot.

Of course, he hasn't had the time to pay attention to this.Now Fitzroy Somerset is also troubled by the fact that a large number of soldiers in the Russian army fell ill, and the cruel reality of lack of medical treatment makes him powerless.

Fitzroy Somerset would be in a much better mood if he knew the tragic situation of the coalition forces. If possible, he would not mind letting the Russian army on the island die with the enemy.

This war has already affected the national destiny of the Russian Empire.The war has progressed to the present, and more than 30 Russian soldiers have fallen.In the Crimea Peninsula alone, the number of Russian casualties exceeded [-].

A middle-aged officer reported back: "Your Excellency, the enemy has slowed down the attack recently. According to the prisoners we captured, a large number of soldiers on the enemy's side fell ill. It is said that they contracted cold, dysentery, and syphilis."

"Syphilis?" Fitzroy Somerset wondered.

"Yes, Commander, it's syphilis!" The middle-aged officer replied affirmatively

Upon receiving this answer, Fitzroy Somerset didn't know whether to cry or laugh.Apart from war, there are very few recreational activities on the Crimean peninsula.

Gambling, tobacco, alcohol and women are the favorites of the soldiers.

Except for tobacco and alcohol, Russian soldiers rarely participated in the remaining activities. There was no way, who made Russian soldiers poor?If you don't have money, you can't afford to play, and if you play less, the chance of getting sick is naturally smaller.

The British and French allied forces on the opposite side are much better. They are all paid by the army, and there will naturally be a market if there is market demand. The service industry is booming in the allied forces.

They are all dawdling on the battlefield. After today, I don’t know if there will be a master tomorrow, so naturally we have to enjoy ourselves in time!

Because of not paying attention to personal hygiene, it is unknown which unlucky person was infected with syphilis, and then quickly spread throughout the army through the service industry.

(Note: In history, the Crimean War killed more than [-] people due to syphilis infection)

In this day and age, there is no effective treatment for syphilis.The most reliable way is to take antibiotics when you are just infected. Unfortunately, penicillin is still lying in Franz's laboratory, and it is still far away from entering commercial operation.

Since there is no medicine, then just resign yourself to fate and endure it directly!Anyway, the normal mortality rate of syphilis is about 20.00%, and those who are lucky can probably survive it.

Considering the poor environment in the barracks and the fact that soldiers don't pay attention to personal hygiene, the death rate is likely to rise further.

These are minor problems. Wind chills and dysentery can also kill people, and the death rate is not much lower.Anyway, they are all dead, so what disease is not the same?

It is not just the Russians who are short of medical care, the situation of the coalition forces is similar.Among them, the situation of the British army is even worse, the logistics system is chaotic, and most soldiers do not know where the field hospital is.

It may not be useful in the hospital. The number of doctors is too small to satisfy everyone.Unless they are officers, ordinary soldiers don't want to get good treatment if they don't stuff red envelopes.

Many medicines for treatment require soldiers to bribe the quartermaster to get them, otherwise you don't even know where the medicines are put.

If you find that the medicine and the hospital are several miles away, don't be surprised or panic. This is just a normal operation, even if it is more than ten kilometers apart.

The mechanical bureaucrats acted in full accordance with the regulations. In many cases, the field hospitals were relocated with the army, and the drug warehouses were stranded in the rear.All the procedures must be completed before they can move.

Tell a joke: A transport ship named "Pioneer" transported more than 150 tons of vegetables to Balaklava, but the military supply department suddenly found that the ship was incomplete, so it was strictly forbidden to disembark the materials it carried.

According to regulations, these materials can only be registered in the warehouse after returning to London to complete the formalities.Finally, the formalities were completed, and the more than 150 tons of vegetables were rotten and spoiled.

Logically speaking, it should be scrapped, right?As a result, the mechanical bureaucrats directly collected these materials into the warehouse and distributed them to the troops.

The consequences can be imagined. According to post-war statistics in history, the losses caused by the British Army's logistics department to the expeditionary force far exceeded that of the Russians.

Chapter 123 Cruel

Despite the best efforts of the British bureaucracy to cover it up, the tragedy in the Crimea appeared in the London newspapers.

There was an uproar among the people, and a large number of soldiers' families took to the streets to demonstrate.It has no effect, and the bureaucrats of the Quartermaster Department act according to the regulations, in full compliance with British law, and do not need to bear any responsibility.

The bureaucrats are fearless, but the British cabinet is under tremendous pressure. If this problem cannot be resolved, the next general election is expected to be very touching.

Without waiting until the general election, Secretary of State Stanley now feels the pressure.

"Your Excellency Prime Minister, the public opinion is very unfavorable to us, and the exaggeration of the media has caused serious problems in our recruitment work."

The poor logistics system, more than one-third of the British soldiers fell ill and could not receive effective treatment, and the mortality rate of ordinary wounded was as high as 40.00%. The cruel reality is enough to discourage anyone.

After artistic processing by the media, the Crimea Peninsula has naturally been reduced to a hell on earth, and it is not surprising that the people resist military service.

It can be said that if the Russians have a little more financial resources and drag it on for another three to five years, Britain and France will have to leave in despair.

This has nothing to do with war. The British and French allied forces can be defeated by disease. No army can withstand the ravages of disease.

George Hamilton Gordon thought for a while and said: "Public opinion is set up by the opposition party and is not under our control. What we can do now is to find ways to change the current situation.

The situation at the front is really bad, and those bureaucrats in the quartermaster department should be sent to the gallows.If this situation does not change, I am afraid that this war will not be fought by the Russians, and we will be played to death by these bureaucrats. "

Obviously, he wanted to attack the bureaucrats of the Ministry of Military Supplies.These people are simply the best allies of the Russians. With their help, the Russians have not won the war. The bureaucrats of the Tsarist government are also allies of the British.

Everyone is at the same level, pulling each other's hind legs, and the war will be stalemate.

Home Secretary Henry reminded: "Your Excellency, the bureaucrats in the Logistics Department really deserve to be hanged, but there is nothing we can do about them.

All their actions are in accordance with the regulations, and they do not need to bear any responsibility.The interests involved are too wide, and doing it rashly will cause big trouble. "

Why is the bureaucracy mechanical?The answer is very simple - interest.

Acting in full accordance with the regulations, they, the makers of the regulations, can use the loopholes in the regulations to seek their own interests without bearing legal responsibility.

After thinking about it, George Hamilton Gordon said helplessly: "If you can't move them, then order them to change the current situation, it's okay!"

No compromise. The real master of the British Empire is the huge bureaucratic group. These people have long formed their own interest groups. If they tear their faces, the cabinet may not be their opponent.

At least the coalition cabinet established by George Hamilton Gordon was powerless against the bureaucracy.Even though there are only 178 people in the British Munitions Department and only 44 people in charge of the Crimea Peninsula, they dare not do it rashly.

Home Secretary Henry replied: "Of course, it is our right."

An order to rectify means that everything that happened before has been exposed.Therefore, the tens of thousands of British troops who died were all killed in vain.

Facing the pressure of public opinion, the London government decided to change the medical conditions of the expeditionary force and recruit medical staff from all over the country.In this context, Nightingale's medical rescue team stepped onto the stage of history.