Holy Roman Empire

After the tsarist government compromised with Poland in 1863, the Kingdom of Prussia also joined the ranks of supporting the Polish independence organization. They secretly helped the Polish independence organization train the army and allowed the Prussian Poles to give up their nationality and join the revolutionary organization.

As for the French, another supporter of the Polish Revolutionary Organization, the two sides hooked up as early as 1848. The internationalist French once wanted to organize an expeditionary force to help Poland become independent.

Alexander II's reforms also aroused concerns in Britain and France.Under the butterfly effect of Franz, the Tsarist government won the Near East War and captured Constantinople. The threat of the Russians has risen by more than one level compared to history.

The Russian Empire, which was still in the feudal era, was so powerful. If they were allowed to complete the reform of capitalist society, would it be okay?

The British are worried that if Russia continues to grow stronger, it will threaten their world hegemony, especially the Indian region will be threatened by the Russians at any time.

The French even regard the Russians as the biggest obstacle to European hegemony. As for Austria next door, at least it seems that no Russians can fight.

This is the experience left by the ancestors. No matter how powerful the Habsburg dynasty is, France will eventually win.With a sense of superiority cultivated for hundreds of years, Napoleon III decided to deal with the Russians first.

The three countries of Britain, France and Prussia all want to engage the Russians. It is best to interrupt Alexander II's reforms and split the Russian Empire.

Everyone in Europe except Russia recognizes that a divided and weak Russia is the best Russia.

After having the three supporters of Britain, France and Prussia, the power of the Polish independence organization has grown rapidly since 1863. Finally, everyone felt that the preparations were almost ready, and the Polish War of Independence broke out.

This time the Poles are quite confident, and the lineup standing behind them is definitely the most luxurious version in history.

Except for Britain, France and Prussia, most countries in Europe sympathize with or support Poland's independence, and even the allies of the Russians sympathize with Poland.

The specific manifestation is that the Polish independence organization raised a donation of 100 million Aegis in Austria, which was not blocked by the Vienna government.

A behind-the-scenes supporter of the Polish independence organization, Franz has no interest in knowing.Anyway, it's all the Russians' troubles, so he doesn't need to care about it.

He is even more ignorant of the plans of the Junker nobles.This is not the incompetence of the intelligence organization, but this kind of thing that has nothing to do with the interests of Austria, it is not worth using the spies who have finally been inserted into the Prussian government.

Because of the Russia-Austria alliance, when the countries conspired, they all avoided Austria's obvious eyeliner.

The eyeliner in the dark was buried with great difficulty.Of course, it is impossible to transmit this kind of information, after all, every transmission of information is a risk.

From beginning to end, Franz regarded the Polish uprising as an ordinary independence movement.

The support of foreign forces is inevitable. As long as an uprising is launched in the Russian Empire in this era, there will be no lack of selfless sponsorship from international friends.

Franz did not know, and neither did Alexander II of St. Petersburg.Just now, the relationship with powerful factions in Poland has been eased, and the capitalists and nobles have been wooed. The rebellion that broke out now naturally did not attract the attention of the tsarist government.

A rebellion broke out in Poland almost every other time, and the Russians have long been used to it.If there is no riot in three to five years, then be careful, it means that the Poles are making big moves.

As a matter of habit, the tsarist government simply ordered the local government to suppress the rebellion.

Alexander II's reforms have achieved phased results. After the abolition of serfdom, Russia's industry and commerce have developed rapidly.

Don't get me wrong, this rapid development mainly refers to the substantial increase in industrial production capacity in terms of volume.However, the industrial production capacity has increased, but the quality has not changed significantly, and it is still at a disadvantage in market competition.

Chinese people would rather use expensive imported products than domestic products.The Russian industrial products in this period had the common problem of stupidity, it was not easy to use, the key was that the price was not cheap.

Because of domestic transportation, the cost of raw material transportation in Russia remained high, which in turn led to high production costs.

Here comes the trouble. Industrial products have been manufactured, but unfortunately they cannot be sold in the market.Especially the mechanical equipment, which is completely unsalable.

Although the tsarist government repeatedly raised tariff prices, it was still of no use.Some people even ridiculed that the industrial equipment produced in Russia could not compete with the handicraft industry.

This is an exaggeration, no matter how efficient it is, it is higher than pure manual work.Of course, given the low labor costs in Russia and the high defective rate of machinery and equipment, it is still unknown which will be the final cost.

In Chekov's literary works, it is mentioned that the screws produced by Russian machine tools need to be manually polished again when they are used.

This may not be an exaggeration. During the Russo-Japanese War, the caliber of some shells had errors, and soldiers had to polish them before they could be loaded and fired normally.

The weapons in the army are so improvised, and the civilian products are perfunctory, so it is even less worth mentioning.In short, Russian goods in the 19th century were the endorsement of crude manufacturing.

The domestic market cannot be sold, and the international market is even less interested.In this context, the tsarist government decided to use the guns in its hands to find export markets for industrial and commercial products.

In the summer of 1864, Alexander II approved the expansion plan of the War Ministry in Central Asia, and the Polish uprising that had just broken out was ignored.

Chapter 38 Disappearing Presence, Mindset Change

The Russians quickly paid the price for their actions due to mental calculations or unintentional calculations, and the Polish independence movement broke out more rapidly than in history.

Britain and France increased their financial assistance to independent organizations. After the uprising broke out, independent organizations pulled up an army as quickly as possible and began to sweep across the four directions.

As a melon-eating crowd, Franz soon received a letter of protest from the Tsarist government.

Franz asked in disbelief: "Prime Minister, are you sure the contents of this protest letter are true?"

Unsurprisingly, Franz was not shocked. During the Polish uprising, there were actually [-] volunteers from Austria participating in the war. Most of these people were retired officers and soldiers from Austrian Poland.

Under the noses of the Vienna government, Poland's independence was able to pull up such an armed force. It would be a ghost if there were no problems.

It is one thing to stumbling the Russians in the dark, but there are so many volunteers on the surface, not telling the outside world that Austria supports the Polish independence movement.

Has the Russian-Austrian alliance been disbanded yet?It is morally unjustifiable to stab the tsarist government like this!

Prime Minister Felix replied embarrassingly: "Your Majesty, there are indeed many Poles in Galicia supporting this uprising. Not only 400 people participated in this uprising, but the number we counted is 800 people.

If nothing else, this number is still increasing.We made a mistake in our estimation in advance, and did not expect that so many people would participate in this uprising, so we did not take measures. "

Franz rubbed his forehead, he didn't know what to say.After the Polish Independence Movement broke out, Poles from all over the world participated.

There are millions of Poles in Austria, and some volunteers are inevitable, but this number is too much.

"Won't someone frame us?" Franz asked uncertainly

He very much suspected that this was a conspiracy by Britain and France, the purpose was to provoke Russia-Austria relations and disintegrate the Russia-Austria alliance.

Prime Minister Felix replied: "Your Majesty, please rest assured. We have checked, these people have no problem, and indeed participated in the uprising voluntarily.

Many people here were originally residents of Russian Poland, but immigrated to Galicia because they could not stand the rule of the Russians.

Now they go back to participate in the uprising, mostly because of the power of hatred.We have already taken action, and this situation will not continue in the future. "

Faced with this result, Franz can only attribute it to the fact that the Russians are too deadly.What else can I do if I can make people appear in exile without forgetting to work hard for revenge.

Of course, someone in the Vienna government must have provided them with convenience, otherwise it would be absolutely impossible for so many people to enter Poland smoothly.

Franz thought for a while and said, "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Russians will explain it slowly, and issue a diplomatic statement by the way. The issue of Russian Poland is the internal affairs of the Russian Empire, and countries should not interfere."

No matter how things have happened, we can only find ways to deal with the aftermath.Just after Britain and France supported the Polish independence organization internationally, European countries responded one after another, and the tsarist government still needed the support of Austria.

This happened, and Franz could not expect to benefit from it.Express your attitude first, as for the Russians to believe it or not, they can only resign themselves to their fate.

This matter is enough to alienate the relationship between the two countries, and it is still a little short of the breakdown of the Russia-Austria alliance.As long as the alliance is still there, the big deal is to slowly repair the relationship later.

Foreign Minister Weisenberg replied: "Your Majesty, the Russians will soon be overwhelmed. According to the news from our station in St. Petersburg, the Polish uprising army has exceeded 10.

The Polish Independence Organization had planned it long ago. After the uprising was launched, the more than [-] troops deployed by Russia in Poland were smashed to pieces by the Polish uprising army.

Many troops became prisoners without reacting at all, and many soldiers directly joined the Polish independence movement. It seemed that the Russian revolutionary organization and the Poles had united.

Judging from the information we have collected, the rebel army is not entirely a mob, and their leadership should have received short-term military training.

From the outbreak of the Polish uprising to the present, at least [-] volunteers from all over the world have participated. Most of these people have received military training and become officers of the uprising army.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs suspects that someone provided military training to Polish independence organizations. These volunteers may have been trained in advance and entered Poland quickly after the uprising broke out to lead the uprising. "

Franz's face changed drastically, this is probably the truth of the matter.Even Austria, which works secretly, is able to toss out hundreds of volunteers. The existence of Britain and France, who do it with swords and guns, will only go too far.

Is it difficult to train personnel for the Polish Independence Organization?

It's too easy for big gangsters, recruit a bunch of anti-Russian Poles, and then conduct simple training, send them to the colonies to fight a few battles, and those who survive are qualified soldiers.

If there are Russian revolutionary organizations involved, then things will be more complicated, which means that the rebellion will not be limited to Poland, and revolutions may break out in vast areas of the Russian Empire.

The reforming Russian Empire is undoubtedly at a crossroads.Now is the most prone to problems. There are too many people in the country who are dissatisfied with the reforms of the tsarist government.

The radicals felt that the reform of the tsarist government was not thorough, while the conservatives felt that the reform of the tsarist government had hurt their interests. Once these dissatisfied people were stimulated, who knew what would happen?

You must know that since the reform of Alexander II, there has been no peace within the Russian Empire.The serfs who had just been freed sighed at the huge ransom money for land.

The purchase of land by the Russians was not as harmonious as in Austria.All these ransoms have to pay interest, and Franz's unified payment standard is not a concept.

The land ransom in Austria is basically based on the output income on the land for 5 to 10 years, which is uniformly collected by the government and then handed over to the landowner.

Farmers can pay in installments of up to 40 years, not counting benefits.The ransom that needs to be paid every year is within everyone's affordability.

Because of the unified apportionment, the expropriation standard is 20.00% of the actual annual output of the land. You can pay more or less, anyway, you can pay it off within the specified time limit.

Due to the factors of the rebellion, the government confiscated a lot of land. In fact, the Vienna government still made a lot of money from this kind of expropriation. Naturally, it can use part of the money to quell the lack of ransom in the disaster year.

When it came to the tsarist government, it was no good. The landlords were still alive and well, and most of the land belonged to these nobles. Before the reform, there were less than [-] civilian manors in Russia, and free farmers only owned a small amount of land.

In this context, it is definitely impossible to compress the land purchase price.Unified collection and distribution, it is impossible not to pay interest.

If it weren't for the Great Revolution, Franz would not have been able to force the nobles to accept such harsh conditions.In fact, Austria's land reform was not thorough.

Many aristocrats who were not involved in the rebellion, nor were they affected by the rebellion, still owned a large amount of land, and as long as they were unwilling, the government could not forcibly buy it.

No social conflicts broke out, mainly because the Vienna government reduced the per capita land area for redemption, ensuring that everyone can buy land, but the location is uncertain.

Later, with the expansion in the Balkan Peninsula, overseas colonies were opened up, and the originally tight land supply became looser, and the contradiction was completely resolved when there was more land.

Now the immigration propaganda slogan of the Colonial Department is: "Want to own a farm? Go to the colony to open up wasteland.

Want to own your own plantation?Go to the colony to open up wasteland.

You can own as much land as you want. "

This is something the tsarist government could not do. Although there are many wastelands in the country that can be reclaimed, these wastelands are also owned by owners.

The average area of ​​land acquired by farmers through redemption is actually lower than that of Austria itself.Of course, this is the result of calculating the Balkan Peninsula. Romania and Serbia have contributed a lot of cultivated land.

The reform of Alexander II only allowed 13% of the serfs to obtain enough land; 42% of the land obtained by the serfs could barely make ends meet after paying the ransom; the rest could not support themselves on the land alone and had to go out to work .

This provided sufficient labor force for the development of capitalism in Russia.

Historically, with the development of the capitalist economy, part of the rural population flooded into the cities, and the originally tense land issue was gradually resolved.

In the late 19th century, the Russian Empire became stronger again because of the reforms of Alexander II.

Unfortunately, Russia's capitalist economy has just started and cannot absorb too many people.

The social dividends brought about by the reform have not had time to play a role; however, the social contradictions brought about by the reform have already begun to play a role.

"Pay close attention to the trend of the situation in Russia, figure out the forces invested by all parties, and prepare for intervention. We cannot let Russia experience major changes."

Franz made a decisive decision. It is okay to let the Russians suffer a little bit, but forget about destroying the Russian Empire!

Unless the Russian Empire can be dismembered and the threat is resolved once and for all, it is better to retain the Tsarist government.

After all, Russia ruled by the tsarist government had limited threats to Austria, and there were too many people in the country holding back. Even the talented Alexander II could not change this problem.

If the rules are broken, it will be different. Franz can use the opportunity of civil strife to cleanse Hungary and integrate Austria. Who can guarantee that Russia will not have a powerful figure come back?

At least Alexander II has this ability to carry out reforms within the scope of the rules, and he has no way to completely solve the problem.

But once the order is broken, the situation is different.The greatest legacy Nicholas I left him was the army loyal to the Tsar.

As long as the army is dealt with, many problems are actually not problems.As long as the table is overturned, it is very likely that Alexander II will regain his fortune.

If it is another country, countries can also form a coalition to intervene. When I met Franz of Russia, he said that he was afraid of the cold.

If Russia, reborn from the ashes, appears, then Austria doesn't have to do anything, just concentrate on being the gatekeeper of Europe and take care of the bears.

Prime Minister Felix objected: "Your Majesty, we should not act rashly now. Although Alexander II's reforms harmed the interests of many people, they did not cross the bottom line of conservatives.

As long as these people don't move, there will be no chaos in Russia.The Russian army in Poland collapsed, mainly because there were too many Polish soldiers inside.

In order to ensure the stability of the Polish region, the Tsarist government ordered the conscription from the Polish region not long ago in an attempt to transfer these people out of the Polish region, but the uprising happened just as the plan started.

The Russian army is still loyal to the tsar, the revolutionary party has not yet influenced the army, and some rebellions cannot shake the foundation of the tsarist government.

As long as Britain and France do not personally send troops to intervene, it will not be long before the rebellion will be suppressed. "

After listening to the prime minister's explanation, Franz breathed a sigh of relief.He is a fan of the authorities, ignoring that Britain and France will not take action in person.

After losing the Near East War, the British were a lot more cautious on European issues, keeping themselves out of the way as much as possible.

Not to mention the French, Napoleon III almost lost the throne, and let him go to the muddy waters of the Russians, how is it possible?

The Kingdom of Prussia was directly ignored. Don't look at how awesome they are in later generations. Now that the Russians sneezed, the Berlin government was terrified.

Austria's best option now is to watch the show, rather than prepare to interfere.Any move by the Vienna government may send a wrong signal to the outside world, resulting in an unmanageable situation.

Franz thought for a while and said, "The Prime Minister is right, but I am too nervous, it is better to stay still now.

The foreign office told the tsarist government that we supported any action they had on Poland, and the volunteers were left to Britain and France.

Other things have nothing to do with us, and we don't know anything. "

Since braking by static is adopted, it is enough to pretend to be stupid.

Britain and France can stand up and spread hatred because they are far enough away from the Russians that they are not afraid of the tsarist government's revenge.

It is best to be able to hit the Russians. If you can’t hit the Russians, you can disgust the Russians and use the Polish independence movement to delay the reform process of the tsarist government.