Holy Roman Empire

These regions are not the same as Switzerland, Belgium, and the Netherlands, which were separated from the Shinra Empire earlier.

Switzerland is a mountainous area, and it belongs to a place where there is nothing to do, but it has a strong folklore. Franz is naturally not interested in this kind of place.

Belgium's geographical location is important. It exists as a buffer country between France and Germany. Whoever hits them will fall to the other side.

Not to mention the Netherlands, which has always been outside the German region, has been independent since early, and has formed its own cultural heritage system.

All three countries have independent capital, while the scattered German Federal Empire does not.The poor strategic position sandwiched between the three Phoops is doomed to their future life will not be easy.

Once the continental balance was broken, the tragedy of the German Federal Empire was doomed.Before that, Franz didn't mind them being free for a few days.

How do you know the importance of a strong motherland without experiencing social beatings?

……

In Berlin, Wilhelm I was angry when he learned that Britain and Austria would give the Rhineland to the German Federal Empire.

It is too bullying. Even if the Rhineland is an enclave, with the French on the side, it may be lost at any time. That is also the territory of the Kingdom of Prussia.

Back then, after the Anti-French War ended, at the Vienna Conference, Austria forced the Rhineland region to them and let them act as guards against France.

The sad scene of his father Frederick William III has already appeared in William I's mind.Unexpectedly, he caught up again during his lifetime.

On the surface, even if an extra piece of territory is an enclave, it is not a humiliation.

In fact, the Congress of Vienna was also a conference for dividing the spoils after the victory of the Anti-French War. Taking away the Rhineland region, Prussia lost the opportunity to swallow Saxony.

Judging from the situation at the time, the Rhineland region was a piece of rotten land, and it was threatened by the French at any time.

Finally, when the industrial age came, the rotten land became a treasure land, and as a result, it had to change hands again.How could William I accept this?

The promise made to the French was just an empty check. William I knew that Britain and Austria would not allow the French to annex the Rhineland, and he could go back on it afterwards.

Now is the time, the two countries have done more extreme than he imagined, and are ready to take the Rhineland directly from their hands.

William I resisted his anger: "Britain and Austria want to take the Rhineland from us, what do you think we should do now?"

Prime Minister Mao Qi slapped the table: "This is impossible, the Rhineland is our legal territory, and it has been confirmed by European countries at the Vienna Conference. Why should Britain and Austria take it from me?

No matter what, we can't give in. If such humiliating conditions are agreed, how can we explain to the people?As long as we don't agree, is it possible that Britain and Austria can still send troops to help the German Confederation? "

Chancellor of the Exchequer Gorman: "It's not that simple, although Britain and Austria will not send troops to seize the Rhineland, but it can still be done to prevent us from establishing the United Kingdom of Pope.

News came from London that Britain and Austria have reached an agreement to refuse to recognize this Polish election as soon as we reject this deal.

If we forcibly annex Poland, Britain and Austria will mobilize European countries to impose a material embargo on us, and the London government has made preparations to collect debts in advance. Given our financial situation, I am afraid…”

send troops?There is no need to send troops at all, just a material embargo, the Kingdom of Prussia can't stand it, not to mention that the British have to collect debts in advance?

There is no doubt that the kingdom of Prussia will have an economic crisis in a month at most, or that kind of devastating economic crisis.

Mao Qishou retorted: "If the British collect their debts ahead of time, we will declare bankruptcy and let go of these debts. It's a big deal, and no one should think about it.

The material embargo is easier said than done, and it is impossible to implement it concretely. In the European continent, Britain and Austria cannot cover the sky with one hand. They do not do business and other countries do.

Moreover, this kind of government's forcible intervention in free trade, their domestic capitalists will not agree first. "

Chancellor of the Exchequer Gorman explained with a wry smile: "It doesn't matter whether the capitalists agree or not, but the material embargo of Britain and Austria can indeed be done.

No need for all countries to participate, most of our import and export trade is with the UK and Austria, accounting for about 66.4% of the total import and export trade.

Once blocked by Britain and Austria, more than half of the world's ports will be closed to us.Routes to Africa, India, and Southeast Asia will be completely cut off, including our only colonies.

to America..."

This is a real problem. Britain and Austria, together with the colonies, have accounted for 58% of the world's total economic volume, 68% of the world's total industrial volume, and 75% of the world's total import and export trade.

The colonies of the two countries combined account for more than one-third of the land area, and most of the world's ports are monopolized by the two countries. If you want to trade overseas, you can't avoid it.

Chapter 142 A Difficult Choice

After entering the 19th century, the polarization of the world became more and more serious. "The stronger the stronger the stronger, the weaker the weaker", the international pattern has undergone earth-shaking changes.

The old-fashioned empires seized the opportunity of the industrial revolution and occupied a large number of resources. For their own interests, they have begun to suppress the latecomers.

Ino's move this time seems to be aimed at curbing the expansion of France, but in fact it is also a collision between old and new imperialist countries.

Not every country is the United States, and the country has abundant resources and markets.If a new country wants to rise, it is bound to grab sufficient resources and markets. This is the contradiction between the old and new empires.

The Kingdom of Prussia is not weak, and it will be even stronger if it annexes the Kingdom of Poland.Possessing sufficient strength but not getting matching resources, the Kingdom of Prussia must be a challenger to order in the future.

It has nothing to do with whether the government loves peace or not.If the industry is not developed, it will be fine. Once the industry develops, the raw materials and the market are the driving force for them to challenge the world order.

The speed of the rise of the German Empire in the original time and space was too fast. The British overestimated the strength of the French. When they reacted, it was too late, and they had to end up in person to fight a world war.

In contrast, the Americans rising on the other side of the ocean are much luckier and have enough resources to disguise themselves as unthreatening "Uncle Sam" and successfully escape the suppression of the old empire.

After a while of silence, Foreign Secretary Jeffrey Friedman said, "Something is wrong. The Anglo-Austrian plot should be kept highly confidential. How could it be so easily discovered by us?

You know, it's not just about us, it's about the French as well.Even if the Paris government is unstable, it will not allow Britain and Austria to calculate them. "

Intelligence comes too easily, which is the biggest loophole.There are not necessarily more than ten people who know about such a conspiracy, and all of them are high-level officials of the country. Under normal circumstances, there is no possibility of leaking secrets.

William I's eyes lit up, and he asked expectantly, "You mean that one of the two countries, Britain and Austria, deliberately disclosed that this alliance is not reliable, and it was only temporarily united because of interests?"

Jeffrey Friedman shook his head: "No, both Britain and Austria really want to take the Rhineland from us, but there may be differences on how to hand it over to the German Federal Empire.

The German Federal Empire is scattered, that is, the Hanover Kingdom, which dominates the central government, has limited strength and has not integrated the country's strength.

Hannover's territory is only [-]% of this country, and its population and economic aggregate are less than one-third of this country.

Affected by the system, the Reichstag, the highest authority in the German Federal Empire, still retains the traditional one state, one vote.No matter what the central government wants to do, the Imperial Parliament can easily veto it.

After so many years, the German Confederation is still the same.Hanover's several attempts to integrate the country were rejected by the Imperial Parliament.

The German region has been divided for hundreds of years, and everyone has become accustomed to state politics. It is almost impossible to change this situation.

However, the Rhineland region is different. If the Rhineland region is directly administered by the central government, the power balance will change.

Even if a single Kingdom of Hanover wanted to overturn the table, it was not an opponent of the group of states below, but with the addition of the central government of the Rhineland region, it had an absolute advantage.

From the standpoint of the Vienna government, there is no problem in giving the Rhineland to the German Federal Empire, but it must be joined as a state.

Making the Kingdom of Hanover bigger is not conducive to Austria's implementation of the German unification strategy.This is precisely what the British want to do most, and there have been serious differences between Britain and Austria from the beginning.

Maybe the talks between the two countries collapsed, and the Vienna government decided to sabotage the British plan and simply broke the news. "

This is close to the truth. Now that the news has leaked, it is impossible to complete the original plan.

Not only the outside world, but also the German Federal Empire does not agree.The central government wants to directly administer the Rhineland, and the following small states will not only not pay, but will also use the imperial parliament to legally veto this territorial transaction.

Unless it is done in secret to create an established fact, the German federal government will not even be able to handle it internally.

It was originally a loose federation, not much different from Germany in the Middle Ages. If the vassal states below do not buy it, what can the emperor do?

With the strength of the Kingdom of Hanover, even if they wanted to unite the German Confederation by force, they did not have that strength.What's more, there is still Austria eyeing, and one is not good enough to put himself in.

William I rubbed his forehead. He was over seventy years old, and his energy was no longer so abundant. This complex international situation was too brainless.

Now he is very contradictory. On the one hand, he does not want to see the German Federal Empire grow and increase the defense pressure of the Kingdom of Prussia; on the other hand, he wants the German Federal Empire to become stronger and cut off Austria's road to German unification.

At this time, he regretted it very much. If he was willing to take risks and divide the German region into two parts of Austria, the current situation would be very different.

"Ugh!"

With a sigh, William I said, "We don't have much choice, and now it's not just Britain and Austria that want to take the Rhineland from us.

It is estimated that the Paris government has the same idea. After all, whether the Rhineland region is independent, falls into the hands of the German Federal Empire, or merges with Belgium, it is easier to obtain it than to keep it in our hands.

What do you think is more in our interest now? "

Prime Minister Mooch: "First rule out a sale to France, if it falls into the hands of the French, the balance will be broken.

I am afraid that Austria will not be able to contain the French at that time. No one knows whether Napoleon IV is the second Napoleon. It is too dangerous to let France grow.

All that remains is to make the Rhineland independent, or sell it to Belgium and the German Federal Empire for a sum of money.

The latter also involves the British-Olympic dispute, which is another stand-up.From the current situation, we are not suitable to stand in the big country, it is too dangerous.

I think selling to Belgium in exchange for a sum of money is more in line with our current interests. The most important thing at the moment is to annex Poland, digest it, and prepare for war with the Russians. "

That's right, it's "present interests". From a long-term perspective, it is definitely in the best interest of Prussia to keep the Rhineland region.

However, this is impossible. The old empires are not stupid. Unless they give up the annexation of Poland, otherwise Britain and Austria, which are good at playing a balance, will definitely not give up.

In the long run, even allowing the Rhineland region to become independent and secretly controlling the Rhineland is more in the interest of Prussia than selling it.

It will be different in the short term. The Berlin government is very poor. Even if it can secretly control the Rhineland region, it is still in the future. It is better to solve the financial crisis first.

If you sell it to the German Confederation, you must stand in line.Now that the Berlin government owes the British a huge debt, they can only stand on the side of the British.

Now it is refreshing, but offending Austria, what will happen in the future of the Prussian-Russian war?

According to the plan, the Berlin government was ready to win over Austria to completely destroy the Russian Empire.Prussia will never be able to live without a solution to the mortal enemy of the Russians.

War Secretary Ron: "It's not that simple, let's not forget the French. What should we do if the Paris government risked sending troops to occupy the Rhineland?

I don't think Austria will fight the French for the Rhineland, and if they want to do it, they will do it when France annexes Italy.

I don't think the strategy of the Vienna government is to unify the German region. Austria has enough territory and enough population that it doesn't lack anything at all.

Judging from the approach of the Vienna government, this is more like a political slogan of theirs.Austria has occupied most of the Balkans and is now attacking the Ottoman Empire.

If the progress is successful and the Asia Minor peninsula is occupied, the eastern coast of the Mediterranean is their territory, and it is simply the second Byzantine Empire. "

The ambition to rebuild the Byzantine Empire is no less than the unification of Germany.Austria did not clamor to rebuild the Byzantine Empire, but the territorial boundaries had to be thought of by everyone.

William I interrupted: "We can't stop what Austria wants to do. It would be a good thing for us if they were so ambitious.

To reproduce the Byzantine Empire, the biggest conflicts of interest with them are the Russians and the French.Judging from the fact that the Vienna government allowed France to annex the Italian region, the Russians should be targeted first.

We can all work together until the fall of the Russian Empire.But the Habsburgs were best at diplomacy, not military.

Franz is one of the best among them. After taking the throne, Austria has continued to expand by diplomatic means. I don't think they will suddenly become so radical. This is probably a smoke bomb they deliberately released. "

……

The Berlin government is struggling, and the Paris government is very lively.Factional disputes in the government continued, and the republican, Orleanist, and orthodox factions suppressed by Napoleon III were all active.

Napoleon IV had insufficient prestige and did not have the ability to suppress the political forces of all parties. He could only play a balance among the various factions according to the plan left by Napoleon III.

The imperial power was guaranteed, but the party struggle became serious.It is very unfortunate that the same party and slashing differences are brought into government work, and it is more common to oppose for the sake of opposition.

The French Empire, which was feared by all parties, was unable to make a decision at this time, which made Napoleon IV very headache.

If it wasn't for his father's explanation, he would have to act arbitrarily and make decisions directly.Luckily he held back, otherwise he would soon know how low the bureaucrats are.

Chapter 143 The Insanity of Pulling Down

The plan did not change quickly, and Franz had to admit that he had made a mistake in his judgment, looking at the French government, which was just noisy and silent.

The table was overturned, but without the participation of the protagonist of the French, the situation did not develop as Franz expected.

The Paris government seems to have staged a farce, but in fact it happens to be the choice that best serves France's interests.

What France needs now is to keep a low profile and reduce its presence as much as possible.If they jumped out to compete for the Rhineland at this time, Britain and Austria, who were fighting each other, would immediately give up their prejudice and suppress them together.

France is powerful and happens to be adjacent to the Rhineland region. Geopolitics has determined that this problem cannot be avoided by the French.The Paris government did not express its position, but instead was wooed by all parties.

In Vienna Palace, looking at the information in his hand, Franz shook his head helplessly.

It is unclear whether Austria made a profit or a loss this time, but the Kingdom of Prussia must have made a profit.

If, according to the British plan, there is a sudden attack at an international conference, there will be only one buyer for the German Federal Empire.

A business that is forced to buy is naturally not as high as the competition between two buyers.It is estimated that by selling the Rhineland region, the financial crisis of the Berlin government will be over.

Foreign Minister Weisenberg: "Your Majesty, the Berlin government has announced that it intends to sell the Rhineland region, and now both Belgium and the German Federal Empire have expressed interest.

However, Belgium lacks the support of the foreign powers, unless it can get the support of the French, or even if the Prussians want to sell them, the deal will be difficult to complete.

The German Federal Empire also had problems. Some people in the imperial parliament have raised the issue of the ownership of the Rhineland region, and many representatives of the states have clearly stated that the Rhineland region must be joined as a state.

If George I hadn't announced the adjournment in time, perhaps the parliament has now made a decision to cut off the possibility of direct jurisdiction of the central government. "

(George I of the German Federal Empire: George V of Hanover, the original time and space of Hanover has perished, and there is no such monarch)

It can be seen that Wesenberg is still regretting that the German Bundestag is one step behind. If a resolution has been made, then Austria's goal has been achieved.

As for backing Belgium to gain the Rhineland, it was a pretense from start to finish.The reason is very simple, Belgium and France are too close.

If there is no French support, they may still have a chance to compete; if they have the support of the French, they will not even have a chance to compete.

The French are not charities, and since they support Belgium, they are bound to be rewarded.