"The European War is coming to an end. The Bonaparte Dynasty is finished!" After receiving the news of the outbreak of civil strife in Paris, Prime Minister Gladstone immediately came to this conclusion.
Even if Napoleon Iv extinguished the rebellion immediately, as long as there were fish that escaped the net, the France Empire would be finished.
The power of the bourgeoisie had been severely damaged. If they wanted to make a comeback, they must first remove the mountain that was Napoleon Iv.
Relying on the Revolutionary Party not only had a low chance of success, but the risk itself was also very high. The best way was to let the anti-French alliance in and reshuffle the cards.
The power of the consortium may not be able to control the army, but it was still possible to influence individual officers. After all, the power of money should not be underestimated anywhere.
The French army was already at an absolute disadvantage on the battlefield. If a few more traitors appeared, the front line would collapse in minutes.
There was always a price to pay for failure in war, and ordinary people would not care so much about the cause and effect. An incomparably harsh cease-fire treaty was enough to bury the Bonaparte Dynasty.
Show mercy? This was obviously impossible. No one would give up the benefits in order to let the Bonaparte Dynasty keep the throne.
In a sense, the current France government was already a political pit. No matter who jumped into it, they would be buried by the post-war armistice treaty.
Putting down the intelligence in his hand, Prime Minister Gladstone sighed and said, "The thing that I was most worried about still happened. From now on, our European balance strategy is officially bankrupt.
France is about to be defeated, and Austria has lost its balance. For the Empire, we are about to usher in an unprecedented situation.
Although Napoleon was rampant, we still had the anti-French alliance to rely on; but now, we can't find an ally to form an anti-Austrian alliance. "
Despite being mentally prepared, when this day really came, Gladstone still couldn't let it go.
Britannia could deal with only a militarily powerful enemy, but to face an enemy that was militarily, politically, and diplomatically powerful was beyond their limit.
In order to maintain the balance of the European continent, the Government of London almost openly supported France in the middle and late stages of the European War. Except for not sending troops to participate in the war, they did everything else that they could and could not do.
The originally well-planned multinational intervention strategy had not had time to be implemented, and the European continent changed color. As far as the eye could see, there were flags of the Anti-Law Alliance everywhere.
Now that they didn't even have the international community, how could they interfere?
Not to mention international mediation, even if Britannia went into battle, it would not change the fact that France was defeated.
Foreign Minister George took out a document and slowly said, "Our Ministry of Foreign Affairs is mainly responsible for the failure of the Continental Balance Policy. As the Foreign Affairs Minister, I cannot absolve myself from the blame. This is my resignation. "
No matter how good the reason was, someone had to take responsibility for the collapse of the international situation. Others might be able to find a way to avoid it, but as the Foreign Minister, George would definitely be the first to bear the brunt.
Rather than being ousted, he might as well resign. Anyway, there was only so much responsibility that a politician needed to bear. As for who would clean up the mess left behind, it had nothing to do with George.
Gladstone's expression changed when he heard the word "resignation". If it weren't for the fact that the timing wasn't right, Gladstone himself would have resigned and left this mess to the next president.
But he had no choice. The current situation did not allow him to retreat. Whether it was Congress, the queen, or his competitors, none of them would allow him to quit at this time.
After taking the document, George's resignation turned into scraps of paper in Gladstone's hands without even looking at it.
"Sir, it's not a good choice to be a deserter at this time. The French were defeated. That's the result of their own perversion. What does it have to do with us? Why should we be responsible for their defeat?
As for the Continental Balance Policy, aren't we working on it? Without the French, there are still Russia and Spain. There will always be someone to balance Austria.
Even though they are allies now, this is only based on the fact that they have a common enemy. If the French fall, allies will become enemies. "
There was no doubt that Gladstone was going to play dumb. The Continental Balance Policy seemed serious, but in fact, it was limited to the top. Ordinary people did not pay attention to these issues.
Although the Gladstone Cabinet was often criticized in Congress, their reputation among the people was not low at all.
"The government is incompetent, sitting back and watching the French lose, causing the Continental Balance to be broken." This was the label that their competitors gave them. It was fine to say it in Congress, but if it was taken to the people, it would be a joke.
The century-old feud between Britain and France was not just a joke, but it was really reflected in the lives of the people. In the minds of the British people, "sitting back and watching France lose" was not a crime. If the government was shameless, it could be promoted as a merit to the people.
As for whether Austria, who defeated France, would threaten Britannia's hegemony? Wait, wasn't defeating France the anti-French alliance?
Russia, Austria, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Italy, Italy … Almost all of Europe besieged France. How could it be blamed on Austria?
Perception couldn't be changed in a short time. It was not something that could be done in a short time for ordinary British people to realize the threat of Austria.
Gladstone was now taking advantage of the people's misperception to force the government to use the anti-French alliance to get rid of France and cover up the fact that the Continental Balance had been broken.
After listening to Gladstone's explanation, George said with some embarrassment, "Prime Minister, this is not good, right? If we don't contain Austria … "
Without waiting for George to finish speaking, Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Childes, interrupted forcefully, "Ah, God! Our Sir George still thinks that we have the ability to contain Austria. The world must be crazy! "
Although George Childes' expression was a little exaggerated, what he said still won everyone's approval.
Britannia was not a fool. Although they had suddenly become arrogant in the past hundred and eighty years, they still had the good tradition of being flexible.
If Austria did it alone, Britannia could still rope in European countries and use the pressure of the international community to force Austria to make concessions.
Now that the European countries were members of the anti-French alliance, even if Austria did not demand severe punishment of France, a series of countries such as Spain, Belgium, and Switzerland who participated in the war would also demand the death of France.
At this time, Britannia intervened, not only standing on the opposite side of Austria, but also standing on the opposite side of the European countries involved in the war.
Anyone with a discerning eye knew that if France really revived and wanted to retaliate, the first to be unlucky would not be Austria, but the neighbors.
Since they couldn't do it, they might as well not do it. The anti-French alliance was formed because they had a common enemy, France. If the enemy no longer existed, the alliance's value would also disappear.
Even if Austria tried to maintain this alliance, it would only be effective in the short term. In the future, due to various conflicts, everyone would still go their separate ways.
In this aspect, Britannia was an expert. Even if there were no conflicts between the countries, they could still create conflicts.
The problem of the European continent's balance could be found after the anti-French alliance collapsed.
As for whether or not it would succeed, no one knew how many people would have to worry about it.
"We can temporarily give up on the affairs of the European continent, but we must get the warships of the French Navy.
For a long time in the future, Austria will dominate the European continent. In order to protect the safety of Britannia, the Royal Navy must have an overwhelming advantage.
Currently, the number of the Austrian Navy's main warships is close to seven layers of ours. If we let them get the warships of the French, the situation will be reversed. "
The words of the Lord of the Admiralty, Sir Astley Cooper Key, stirred up everyone's emotions.
If the balance of the European continent was broken, it wouldn't kill Britannia, but if the Royal Navy lost its advantage, it would really be fatal.
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is already working hard. It's just that Napoleon Iv used the French Navy as his biggest bargaining chip and tried to use this batch of warships to make an issue.
Before this, in order to obtain material aid, the French used this to threaten us. They clamored that once they stopped supporting them, they would give the navy to Austria intact in exchange for leniency after the war.
According to the intelligence from the embassy, it can be confirmed that the Fao and Austria did indeed have negotiations on the issue of naval warships. Now that the war on the European continent is still ongoing, the preliminary judgment is that they didn't come to an agreement. "
George's explanation not only did not make everyone feel at ease, but it made everyone even more anxious. 1 + 1 did not necessarily equal 2. The navies of the Fao and Austria were independent systems, and the degree of running-in was definitely not 100%.
This set of "1 + 1" was less than 2, but that was still a little something. In the face of an enemy with so many main warships, could the Royal Navy really hold on?
No one could answer this question. Anyway, everyone knew that Britannia couldn't afford to gamble, even if it was a draw.
After a little thought, Gladstone said coldly, "At all costs, get the warships from the French."
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