In order to help the underlings recover economically, an Austrian version of the "Marshall Plan" was released. The core purpose was to revitalize the European economy and seize the sales market. The only difference was that the content was slightly different.
At the moment, Austria was far from being as rich as the Americans after World War II. The Government of Vienna couldn't come up with a huge amount of financial aid in a short time.
To provide funds for post-war reconstruction for various countries, they had to borrow from the financial market, so the interest was still considerable.
Before the European War, the four major financial centers in Europe were London, Paris, Vienna, and Frankfurt. As the hegemon of the financial world, London's capital market was equivalent to the sum of the latter three.
Because of the war, Paris was basically destroyed. Napoleon Iv's counterattack before he fled caused the French consortium to suffer heavy losses. It wasn't easy for them to survive.
Austria's development time was still too short. Franz also paid special attention to the real economy. Most of the domestic funds flowed into the industry, and there wasn't much capital circulating in the financial market.
Vienna and Frankfurt were able to become the four major financial centers in Europe, not because they were powerful, but because their competitors were too trashy.
If the currency circulating in the European financial markets were one hundred per cent, the London financial market accounted for 48.7 per cent, followed by Paris at 19.6 per cent (before the war), followed by Vienna at 14.1 per cent and Frankfurt at 13.7 per cent.
Looking further back, the gap was huge. Milan, ranked fifth, didn't even account for two percentage points. Madrid and St. Peter's Castle were even further back.
This ranking was not only valid in Europe, but also around the world. Any one of the four major financial centers had more capital than all the financial markets behind it combined.
Looking at the data, it was clear that the British's foundation was really solid. The accumulation of a colonial empire for a hundred years wasn't something that could be surpassed overnight.
Even if Austria fully exerted its siphon effect and gathered capital from Central, Southern, Eastern, and Northern Europe, it was still the younger brother.
This was the result of robbing South Africa's gold, otherwise the gap would be even wider. One had to know that the original London financial market now had more than half of the world's capital.
With this solid foundation, John F. Kennedy survived two world wars and lasted until the 21st century. London was able to compete with New York for the position of the world's financial center.
Now, not only did Austria have to finance itself, but they also had to finance their underlings. A rough estimate showed that they would not be able to settle this without at least three billion DND.
If they had to think of a solution from the domestic financial market, the funds would be sucked dry, and it might even cause a stock market disaster. Of course, the Government of Vienna would not do such a stupid thing.
If he couldn't handle it at home, then he could only think of a solution from abroad. Anyway, capital had no borders. Money was money no matter where it came from. Franz didn't care whether it was domestic debt or foreign debt.
"Are you saying that the British will use this as a threat to negotiate with us?"
Naturally, the Government of the United Kingdom was involved in financing from the London financial market. Even though the British were clamoring for a "free economy," such international large-scale financing still required the participation of the government.
With John Bull's style, it was entirely possible for him to take the opportunity to negotiate with Austria.
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
Prime Minister Carr: "Without affecting the economy, the domestic financial market can provide at most half of the funds. The other financial markets combined will probably only be able to provide 20 to 30 percent of the funds.
But for our own use, this money is certainly enough. But considering the funding gap of our allies, it is far from enough.
Now, not only are Belgium and Italy short of money, but Switzerland, Spain, and Russia are also poor and need us to provide financial support.
If they can't get money from us, they are likely to lean towards the British, which is very disadvantageous to us. "
Franz had personally experienced the power of "money." Not to mention that these allies were originally gathered because of interests, even if they were truly close allies, they couldn't withstand the attack of "money."
The essence of international politics was interests. There was no betrayal because the interests were not enough. If it was about "loyalty," then they had already lost.
In a sense, Austria was able to gather so many allies because of the use of "money." The Government of Vienna had more money than the Government of Paris, and they were more willing to pay, so Austria won.
There was no other way. Who asked Austria's allies to be poor? Even if they weren't poor before the war, they had become poor now.
There was no need to talk about Belgium and Italy. They were all caused by the war.
Switzerland, a country of mountains, had never been rich. Even now, they were still accumulating capital for the industrial revolution, and they weren't the ideal country envied by future generations. It was impossible to digest the newly occupied areas without borrowing money.
Spain could only say that their ancestors were powerful. Since the 19th century, their finances had never been good. Now, not only did they have to digest the results of the war, but they also had to go to Southeast Asia to fight the Japanese. It was impossible without money.
Russia was an old and poor country. If you flipped open the history books, you would know that the Tsarist government basically never had a lack of money.
The only thing that comforted Franz was that the anti-French alliance was relatively stable. It wasn't something that the British could win over with a small profit.
Due to geopolitical reasons, except for Spain, Austria had a strong deterrent to other allies. If they wanted to be a traitor, they had to first see if they could withstand Austria's revenge.
In this regard, the continental countries were stronger than the maritime countries. Especially for small countries like Belgium and Switzerland, it was even more cruel.
If they offended the British, the maritime overlord, the Royal Navy wouldn't be able to go ashore. At most, they would suffer losses in overseas trade. But if they offended the European overlord, Austria, they might directly perish.
After pondering for a moment, Franz coldly said, "This financing is mainly to solve everyone's difficulties. There's no reason for us to bear it alone and pull the anti-French alliance and the British to negotiate.
We can use the French war reparations as a guarantee, and the anti-French alliance countries will provide security for the debt and jointly bear the responsibility for breach of contract.
If the British are not assured, the anti-French alliance can maintain a garrison of no less than 500,000 troops in France to urge the Government of France to fulfill the debt.
By the way, release the news that we are preparing to form a European Customs Union and are considering whether to let Britannia join.
As for the other conditions, you can consider it yourself. As long as it doesn't harm our core interests, we can discuss it. I think the Government of the United Kingdom will make the right choice. "
Austria wanted the anti-French alliance countries' markets, and the British had no reason not to spy on them. In this context, helping the countries to recover their economies was beneficial to everyone.
If the Government of the United Kingdom wanted to use the loan as a card, Franz didn't mind making both sides suffer. He would create the "European Economic Community" ahead of time and exclude the British from the European economic system.
"Lack of money" would just slow down the economic recovery, and the anti-French alliance didn't lack food. As long as the people were fed, there wouldn't be any big trouble.
"Lack of market" was different. These days, Europe could be said to be the region with the most purchasing power in the world, accounting for more than half of Britannia's total foreign trade.
Losing such a large market all of a sudden, they couldn't find a new market to replace it in a short period of time. India's market potential was indeed great, but potential didn't equal purchasing power.
By the time the market was developed, it would be too late. Without Europe, Britannia would have at least a few million unemployed people in a short period of time, and an economic crisis was inevitable.
Although the conflict between Britain and Austria was huge, there wasn't much hatred between them. Even if there was a confrontation, it was carried out in secret, and the relationship between the two countries was still passable on the surface.
Franz didn't think that the Government of the United Kingdom would risk a lose-lose situation to fight with Austria. This wasn't in the interest of the politicians.
Similarly, this wasn't in the interest of Austria. In terms of development potential, Austria was obviously far ahead of Britannia. Slowing down the speed of development would be a waste of their advantage.
It could be said that with every day that passed, Austria's advantage would increase. Especially after the annexation of the German Confederation, there would be a qualitative leap.
In order to achieve his goal, even the "garrison against France" was used by Franz as a condition for negotiation.
To ensure that the debt was normally fulfilled, a garrison was necessary. Otherwise, if the Government of France broke the contract, they couldn't start another war against France, right?
However, the number of garrison was a problem. "No less than 500,000" was definitely impossible. If there were that many troops in France, not to mention the revival of France, the French would be poor just by eating.
If the military discipline was a little worse, then the Government of France wouldn't have to do anything. They could just clean up the aftermath of the garrison every day.
If the British wanted to maintain the vitality of France and still fantasize about France's comeback, they had to suppress the number of garrison troops in the anti-French alliance.
Foreign Minister Wesenberg: "Your Majesty, the other issues are easy to discuss, but I'm afraid it will be difficult for the British to agree to using France's reparations as a financing guarantee.
Even if the anti-French alliance provided a security endorsement together, it could only guarantee that the Government of France wouldn't maliciously breach the contract.
Based on the current situation, after the war, France would need a long time to recover its economy. If the economy didn't recover, the government wouldn't have the money to repay the debt. No one could do anything without money in their pockets.
Not long ago, the government of the German Confederation proposed the transfer of creditor's rights. The Government of London asked the state governments within the German Confederation to guarantee in advance that the French could pay the reparations normally before accepting the transfer of creditor's rights.
Obviously, the British are aware of the risks. It won't be easy to trick them. "
As the protagonist of the war, no one knew better than the Government of Vienna what the French had lost in the war.
According to the draft of the anti-French alliance, unless the French collectively cheated, it was only a matter of time before they defaulted on the debt.
If they accepted the guarantee, once the French defaulted on the debt, would the British pursue the debt or not?
Pursuing the debt would undoubtedly stab the French in the back, pushing them into the abyss and cutting off their chance of a comeback.
Not pursuing the debt would indeed help the French, but the capitalists wouldn't agree. The financial groups wouldn't care about the overall situation. It was necessary to pay back the debt.
Franz shook his head: "It doesn't matter. We don't need the Government of the United Kingdom to agree, as long as the financial institutions that provide us with funds approve it.
High risks have high returns. If we raise the interest, the bankers won't be tempted.
Moreover, we have also provided a security guarantee for the debt. If the Government of France is really unable to repay, the countries will also have to bear joint liability for repayment.
Anyway, the money lent is not their own. As long as the benefits are big enough, and there is enough reason to convince investors, they won't mind taking the risk. "
Things were definitely not as easy as Franz said. The premise of "joint liability for repayment" must be that the French were unable to repay.
Just saying that they were "unable to repay" was a huge trap. Paying off the debt with cash was paying off the debt, and paying off the debt with real objects was also paying off the debt.
If forced, they could even take a piece of land from the mainland of France to pay off the debt.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
