Holy Roman Empire

……

Frankfurt

This commercial capital of Germany has become more active with the arrival of representatives from all over the world, and people in the streets and alleys are discussing this event.

Even though the legitimacy of the Frankfurt Conference has yet to be considered, everyone's enthusiasm remains undiminished.

Greater Germany and Little Germany were even more the subject of debate. Neither side could convince the other, and everyone was still in high spirits.

So far, apart from Prussia, which publicly supported the conference, only a few free cities and small states supported the conference.

Regardless of whether they support it or not, representatives from various states have arrived in Frankfurt. Some of these representatives have been elected, and most of them are represented.

Capital without borders is not a joke. These capitalists who desire the unification of the German region and create a big market have long since broken their morals.

At the place where the Austrian delegation stayed, Lauert asked suspiciously: "Anderson, are all the people we met today elected representatives?"

"Probably so!" Anderson replied uncertainly

"But why do I feel that these worker representatives are like thugs?" Lauert frowned and said

"Maybe they are the supervisors of the factory. Why bother with so many of them? Anyway, just make up enough people. Aren't we also appointed you?" Anderson thought for a while and said

"Thugs can be regarded as supervisors, and supervisors are of course workers."The two looked at each other, and they no longer had any illusions about this conference.

This is a social reality. Whether it is workers or farmers, even if they have elected representatives, they still do not even have the qualifications to participate in the meeting, and they may not even have the travel expenses to come here.

How could it be possible for a conference organized by capitalists to give up the initiative?If it is really a democratic election, with their good reputation, idiots will support them.

Go ashore in vain?It doesn’t exist, it’s only the 19th century now, capitalists with a clean foundation are rare, and the social background is black, and if you are white, you will be dyed black.

They even felt that if they did not participate in this meeting, they would be represented. With the integrity of capitalists, there is no pressure to do this kind of thing.

"No, Mr. Anderson, the organizer informed us that Bohemia, Hungary and other regions do not belong to the German region, and these representatives cannot participate in this meeting."

Anderson's expression changed, first he was angry, then surprised.This is an excuse delivered to your door, how can you not use it?

"Hurry up, get this news published in a newspaper, and describe the situation a little more seriously, with the emphasis on highlighting the arrogance of the organizer." Anderson quickly shared

"Wait, I think I can add some information, and let out rumors that the Prussians controlled the meeting, with the purpose of getting the assembly to pass a decree and let Prussia annex all other states!" Lauert added

"Since that's the case, let's add a little bit more, spreading rumors that the Prussians are going to establish Protestantism as the state religion of Germany, and that the existence of Catholicism will be banned in the form of the constitution!" Anderson continued.

……

Anyway, they are all here to make trouble, they don’t have any pressure to make news casually. In this age, limited by communication, it is too difficult to find out the truth.

In Vienna, Franz even formed a team of experts to collect the information sent back from the front, and then create topics to guide Austria in the direction it needs.

When the Frankfurt Conference started, news had already begun to circulate in the German region that the Prussians attempted to annex countries through this conference.

"The capitalist thugs are actually representatives of the working class!"

"A farmer's representative who owns [-] hectares of land!"

"Who is the elected representative?"

"Who gave the capitalists the right to run the country?"

……

There are pictures and the truth, and after some artistic processing, the headline party has grandiosely grabbed the headlines of the mainstream European media.

The truth is mixed with rumors, making it difficult to tell the truth from the false.Many people only believe what they see. Obviously, the reality is cruel. The dark history of capitalists revealed by the media is no different from what they see.

The Frankfurt Conference damaged the authority of the monarchs of various countries. Under the leadership of Franz, everyone jointly started this public opinion war.

Chapter 79 The Blackest Congress

The five members of the Frankfurt Preparatory Committee all looked very ugly, and the Austrian delegation made a strong protest on the grounds that the Austrian Empire was a whole.

The representatives of the Frankfurt Conference are allocated seats according to the population. In theory, one representative is elected from among 5 people. If the non-German regions are not kicked out, this conference will be exclusive to Austria.

During this period, the two states of Schleswig and Holstein still belonged to Denmark, and Austria also controlled part of Italy. In terms of population, Austria exceeded the sum of the small German regions.

Protests are fine, anyway, Hungary and a series of regions do not belong to the German region, and they are not afraid to argue.

But I didn't expect that the Austrian representative would reveal the matter to the reporter in a very bachelor manner, and openly revealed the shady scene of the meeting.

Because of the customs union, Prussia, the most industrially developed German state, has the greatest influence among capitalists. This meeting does have a clear tendency.

By now, everyone knows that the Austrian delegation is here to mess up the situation, and the Austrians are not allowed to participate in the meeting?

Can this still be regarded as the pre-parliament of Germany?It is estimated that the Austrians will leave very happily. The Congress, which does not have much legitimacy, will become a laughing stock after a corner is missing.

"Everyone, we must take action. The recent public opinion is very unfavorable to us. If we continue, the enemy's plot will succeed!" Merlin said seriously

The media's exposure of their black history did not arouse their vigilance. The capitalists in the world are all the same. Who doesn't have a black history?

What they are most worried about now is that the Austrian delegation is doing things. As the largest state in the German region, Austria often acts as the leading brother.

Whether they are willing or not, Austria's influence in the German state is huge, and it is impossible for a congress without Austria's participation to be recognized by the people.

"Why don't we just change the name, call it the Little German Congress, and let the Austrians get out!" A Prussian representative suggested

"Impossible! Winstall, you are splitting the great German Empire. If it's just a small German Reichstag, then we will also withdraw!" the representative of Bavaria objected.

The main purpose of this Congress is to expand the political influence of the bourgeoisie. The unification of the German region is actually the second place. The Frankfurt Conference is not as important as described in the history books.

Otherwise, in the end, even the Kingdom of Prussia would not recognize this meeting. It is really too idealistic, expanding the interests of capitalists indefinitely, and it is not feasible at all.

The interests of capitalists are not the same. Capitalists in different regions and industries often have different interests.

The establishment of a small German empire is in the interests of the capitalists in North Germany, and they can avoid competition from the Austrian capitalists.

But it is different for many capitalists in South Germany, especially the Kingdom of Bavaria. The local economy is very closely connected with Austria. Once separated, it will be a disaster for them.

Because of the protest of the Austrian delegation, the meeting has not yet started, so there is no way to solve the problem by voting. If the support of the South German representative is lost, then this meeting will not be held.

……

The bourgeoisie is naturally compromising. After a week of disputes, everyone reached a compromise, allowing representatives from Bohemia and Hungary to participate in the meeting, but limiting their quota.

A maximum number of state representatives was directly set, and no state representative could exceed 200. Only Austria and Prussia had so many representatives attending the meeting.

Undoubtedly, the next step is wrangling again. The status of Austria and Prussia, as the largest state in Germany, must have the same status.

The Austrian delegation headed by Anderson was originally here to make troubles, so how could they give up?

He insisted that Austria must have the most representatives.Anyway, Austria has the largest population now, and there is no professional statistics in this era. Who knows how many Germans there are in Austria?

The Prussians who wanted to gain the same status as Austria naturally refused to agree. You must know that this meeting was planned by Prussia's internal interest groups with the purpose of excluding Austria.

The Pu-Ao delegation started a tug-of-war, which soon spread and became a regional conflict between North and South Germany, involving all the representatives.

The dispute lasted until June, and the Austrian delegation was gradually at a disadvantage.But it doesn't matter, the scandal-prone Frankfurt meeting at this time has become a joke.

The Vienna Daily described this meeting as a "feast for capitalists", and accompanied it with a picture of a group of fat capitalists slaughtering a cow with knives and forks.

The Neue Rheinische Zeitung also published an article by Engels, strongly criticizing the Frankfurt Conference, which was ridiculed as "a group of capitalists' profit distribution conference."

The Munich Post even made a series of reports on the Frankfurt meeting, introducing in detail the information of all the congressmen who attended the meeting.There is no doubt that the emphasis is on black history.

In the end, he described this meeting as "the dirtiest congress in history". There is no way to cleanse this meeting, and all the representatives attending the meeting are black.

Scholars, civil servants, and social figures who participated in the meeting are no exception. Election fraud is the biggest black history.

For example: A certain representative was elected with 3 votes, but less than [-] people participated in the voting; another example is an election in a certain area, where there is only one candidate, and the default is unanimous election...

To sum up, it is election fraud.It took less than a week from the beginning to the end of this election, and many places may not even have time to pass on the information. How can the result be accepted by people?

Experts and scholars have formed groups to criticize the election technically. For example, the newspaper published where the election will be held today, and the election will start the next day. There is no time at all.

Numerous questionnaires show that 90.00% of Germans do not know that this election has taken place, and 90.00% of people have not participated in this election.

At this point, there was no need for Franz to continue to act. The representatives attending the meeting were hacked from head to toe. Many people could not bear the pressure of public opinion and voluntarily withdrew from the meeting.

The meeting persisted until July. Due to the changes in the political situation and internal and external troubles, the meeting spontaneously organized by the bourgeoisie fell apart.

Chapter 80 Changes

After the victory of the bourgeois revolution, the situation in Europe did not improve, but worsened.

The capitalists who have just turned themselves into masters have exposed their greedy nature before they have settled down.

The newly established bourgeois government not only failed to fulfill its previous promises, but intensified the oppression of the people at the bottom.

Where there is oppression, there is resistance, and the workers' and peasants' movement began to flourish.

In Lombardy, Marshal Radkis confiscated a large amount of grain before his departure. After the Kingdom of Sardinia occupied the area, the city of Milan was short of grain and borrowed some grain from the local people in order to raise food for emergency.

There is borrowing and repayment, and it is not difficult to borrow again.

It is a pity that the Kingdom of Sardinia seems to have forgotten to borrow food from the people, which caused dissatisfaction among the local people.

That's all, anyway, only a few people were borrowed food.Next, in order to raise war funds, the Kingdom of Sardinia began to levy war taxes.

After the bureaucrats increased their burden layer by layer, the amount of the war tax has long exceeded the capacity of the people at the bottom.

On April 1848, 4, the Brianza peasants who could not bear the high taxes rebelled, and the uprising soon spread to Salerno, Calabria and other regions.

The rebel army occupied the noble manors, seized the granaries, distributed the grain to the common people, burned the IOUs and documents, and even distributed the land in some places.

The practice of the peasant uprising army frightened the capitalists and nobles.The Lombard government immediately dispatched troops to suppress it by force, and this uprising spontaneously organized by the peasantry was extinguished in less than a week.

The peasant uprising was just the beginning. After the Kingdom of Sardinia occupied Milan, prices began to skyrocket.Taking bread as an example, from March to early May, the price soared by 70.00%.

The capitalists took advantage of this opportunity to make a lot of money in the country, and the people at the bottom were hungry and cold, and it was difficult to survive, which hurt many people who supported the Kingdom of Sardinia.

On April 4, under the organization of the workers' mutual aid association, more than 25 workers in Milan took to the streets to petition the interim government appointed by the Kingdom of Sardinia, demanding that the government stabilize prices and protect workers' rights.

There is no perfect worker protection law in this era, the best is the "Labor Protection Law" promulgated by the Vienna government, and its subsidiary bills.

Not many workers in Milan are literate, let alone considering political influence. The workers' representatives directly copied a part of Austria's "Labor Protection Law", added some clauses that they thought were reasonable, and submitted the petition. .

In order to win over the local capitalists and nobles, the Sardinian Kingdom naturally had capitalists in the provisional government. They immediately took advantage of this loophole, arrested the workers' representatives on charges of Austrian spies, and sent troops to suppress the parade.

On April 4, a strike broke out in the city of Milan. Tens of thousands of workers took to the streets to fight for their own rights. The provisional government ordered the National Guard to shoot at "the crowd who disturbed the social order". More than 28 people were killed on the spot and arrested. More than five hundred people.

White terror filled the city of Milan, and under the suppression of the bourgeois liberal government, the Milan labor movement fell into a low ebb.

……

Sardinia was far from the only one who suppressed the workers' and peasants' movement. The bourgeois liberal governments in southern Italy also suppressed the workers' and peasants' movement one after another.

In Naples, the National Guard shot strikers in a printing factory; in Rome, the National Guard massacred people asking for bread in front of a bakery; ...

The retrogression of the bourgeois government provided the most powerful support for the restoration of the feudal forces.

No matter how much they brag, capitalistism is more progressive than feudalism, but the people at the bottom find that the capitalist regime is more hateful than the feudal aristocracy.

The monarchy and aristocratic group also seized this opportunity and took the opportunity to launch a counterattack. The most representative of them is the Austrian counter-revolutionary group headed by Franz, which has suppressed most of the revolutions in Austria.

In Italy, Pius IX of Rome worried that the unification of Italy would lose his throne, and he was also worried that the war with Austria would lose the support of Catholics.

With the efforts of the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on April 1848, 4, Pius IX issued the "Declaration", which set off the horn of counterattack.

On May 5, King Ferdinand II of Naples asked members of parliament to swear allegiance to the constitution, which was opposed by bourgeois members of parliament.

That night, Ferdinand II dispatched troops into the city and raised his butcher knife against the bourgeois parliament.

In the Kingdom of Prussia, the Junker nobles, unwilling to be reconciled to failure, are planning a counterattack. King Frederick William III is still fighting with the bourgeois government.

France

As the source of the European revolution, it is naturally the most lively place.

On April 4, France held constitutional elections. The bourgeois republicans won an overwhelming victory, and the working class was excluded from the core of rights.

The French right-wing forces came to power, causing dissatisfaction among the working class.

On April 4, French workers failed to launch armed uprisings in Lyon, Limoges and other cities. Workers leader Blanqui issued a statement condemning the government for betraying the revolution and announcing that the revolution would be carried through to the end.

Class contradictions have risen to become the main contradiction in France, and the working class and the bourgeoisie have parted ways.

During the same period, the royalists were not idle, and quietly extended their hands to the army.

If the French royalists hadn't been divided into three and kept each other in check, there would be no bourgeoisie now.

……

Vienna

Looking at the information gathered in his hands, Franz breathed a sigh of relief. History hasn't changed much, and his butterfly effect hasn't completely changed the world yet.