The Vienna conference continued. The refugee issue, which should've been the focus of attention, was subconsciously ignored.
The Russia representative didn't mention it, and the Prussia representative played dumb. No one asked for help, so the international community naturally treated the matter as over.
No one knew when it started, but the main task of the army on the border between Prussia and Russia changed from fighting to suppressing the refugee riots.
Since April, the number of refugees fleeing to Austria had decreased sharply. By May, there were almost no refugees crossing the border.
Franz didn't know what happened during this period, nor did he dare to ask.
According to the information collected by the Government of Vienna, the war between Prussia and Russia resulted in at least four million deaths and more than six million homeless.
Including the local troops and partisans, the Prussian army lost 1.768 million and was injured 382,000. The Russian Army lost 1.433 million and was injured 671,000. The direct civilian casualties were about 800,000, most of which were in the Prussian Federation.
It wasn't strange. The losses between Prussia and Russia were so similar that a large part of it was contributed by the Polish local troops and partisans.
Bandits and bandits were probably also used as numbers. There was no way to distinguish them. The Russian Army counted all resistance forces as battle achievements.
After abandoning Warsaw, Poland became the enemy's war zone. Naturally, there were no casualties. The Russians didn't know how to save the enemy's wounded. The casualties of the Prussian army came from the soldiers of the Kingdom of Prussia.
Purely counting the Kingdom of Prussia, the number of casualties should be about 566,000. Including the 382,000 injured, it was close to the million mark. Including the civilian casualties, it was over.
With a population of more than ten million in the Kingdom of Prussia, the war had already wiped out an entire generation. Because of the large loss of young adults, the labor force dropped sharply. After the war, the development of the Kingdom of Prussia wasn't optimistic.
In comparison, the Russian Empire was much better. Although they also suffered heavy casualties, compared to the Russian Empire's population of 80 million, the losses on the battlefield were less than 3%.
In theory, this loss of labor force could be made up in the next five to ten years.
Of course, it couldn't be calculated this way. The large loss of young adults would also affect the future population growth. This was a continuous problem.
In war, the civilians were always the most miserable. This time was no exception. Russia's scorched earth plan had increased the number of refugees.
Six million people had lost their homes, but that did not mean that they had all become refugees.
Those with better economic conditions had already fled to other countries to seek refuge. This group of people was the least, probably less than 100,000 people.
There were also about 200,000 people who had passed Austria's immigration application and settled in the colony.
Before the fall of Warsaw, the Government of Berlin was still providing relief to the refugees. Some of the lucky ones found jobs and built new homes.
There were about 300,000 of them, and most of them were immigrants from the Rhineland Empire who had been settled by the Government of Berlin. They were skilled and had a strong ability to survive.
Other than these people, the rest were genuine refugees.
Of course, this 5.4 million was only a theoretical figure. In reality, it definitely wasn't that much. Many of the weak and sickly people met God the moment they started fleeing. The most that could escape was 4.7 million or 4.8 million.
Before and after the outbreak of the Prussian War, Austria had accepted a total of 1.436 million refugees. Based on the current situation, it would be difficult to exceed 1.5 million.
The Government of Vienna's protest had worked. Prussia and Russia did not have the guts to drive the refugees over. The wave of refugees that Franz was most worried about did not happen.
It had been more than four months since the full-scale outbreak of the refugee crisis. After such a long time without relief, there were actually not many people left.
This meant that the number of deaths caused by the refugee crisis had directly exceeded the number of deaths in Prussia and Russia combined.
If all the data were added up, the direct population loss caused by the Prussian War was more than eight million, and the indirect population loss was more than ten million.
These days, there were less than 15 countries in the world with a population of more than eight million. In Europe, there were only eight countries: Austria, Russia, France, Britain, West Germany, Prussia, and the Nordic Federation.
Among them, the Nordic Federation only had a population of eight million, and the German Federal Empire only had a population of 13 million. After the war, it was unknown whether the Kingdom of Prussia could keep its population of eight million.
There was no doubt that such shocking data had to be released. If they did not let everyone know the horror of war, how could they appreciate the value of peace?
Looking at the statistical table full of gold, Prime Minister Felix exclaimed, "The Prussian War was the peak of human war history. After this war, the era of European wars is over!"
Looking at the serious face of the prime minister, Franz very much suspected that he was frightened. Otherwise, how could he have come to this conclusion?
Glancing at everyone, Franz helplessly discovered that only he, the emperor, did not have any reaction. Everyone else was immersed in the data of "eight million deaths."
Looking at everyone's expressions, Franz very much suspected that after this data was released, there would be a wave of anti-war sentiment in Europe.
Especially for the many small countries, their total population was less than eight million. What could they use to fill the bottomless pit of war?
Franz interrupted, "Okay, everyone. No matter how great the losses of the Prussian War were, we shouldn't be the ones to worry about it.
Whether or not there will be another war on the European continent, time will tell. Now we need to think about the following international changes.
The cruelty of the war has exceeded our previous expectations, and the impact has also exceeded our expectations. Now we must replan. "
There was no other way. International politics was so changeable that it was impossible to follow the plan. The international situation had changed. If they did not keep up immediately, they were destined to be eliminated.
After a pause, Foreign Minister Wesenberg said, "Your Majesty, the Prussian War has shown everyone the cruelty of war. In the future, everyone will be more cautious when making decisions.
Under normal circumstances, everyone will deliberately avoid starting a war on the European continent. In the future, international competition will gradually shift from the European continent to overseas.
The world has almost been divided up, and the competition for overseas colonies and markets will probably become unprecedentedly fierce. "
This was inevitable. The cost of starting a war on the European continent was too high, and it was easy to cause public anger if one was not careful. The benefits seized might not even be enough to make up for the costs of the war.
Specifically, one could refer to the Prussian War. The Tsarist government had won the war with great difficulty, but the spoils of war were not enough to make up for half of the war losses.
In this context, if it was not necessary, everyone would definitely avoid the outbreak of war.
In a sense, the Prussian War had also increased Austria's international influence. The Russians relied on human wave tactics to crush the Prussian Federation, which refreshed everyone's worldview.
Before this, when the European war broke out, they only had to consider whether they had money or not. Now it was different, and everyone had to consider whether they had people or not.
As the scale of the war increased, the traditional concept of having money and soldiers had been eliminated by the times.
In terms of numbers, Russia and Austria were undoubtedly in the first tier. Coupled with the overseas territories, Austria's war potential was even above the Russian Empire.
Following closely behind was France, with a total population of nearly 60 million, which left other countries far behind.
The Russians proved their strength with numbers, firmly occupying the position of the fourth most powerful country on the European continent. The political structure of the three major European countries had a tendency to develop into the four major countries.
On the ocean, the Royal Navy's situation was very stable, and Britannia's position as the overlord of the sea was as stable as Mount Tai. Fao's two pursuers could only watch from the back.
On land, Fao and France stood side by side, and Russia followed closely behind.
Before the Prussian War, everyone agreed that the French Army was more powerful. Now that the concept had been impacted, opinions had also changed.
The French Army's record was more brilliant, but Austria could erupt with more numbers and stronger overall national strength, giving people a feeling of equal strength.
No one could beat the British at sea, and the strength of everyone on land was very close. If they fought, both sides would suffer.
In this context, it was unrealistic to expect the British, Fao, and France to PK each other. The three giants with the largest share couldn't compete with each other, so they could only go overseas to bully the weak.
Franz nodded. "That's right. Most of the following international struggles will occur overseas. When the ownerless land is divided up, it will be the turn of the small countries to suffer.
If nothing unexpected happens, the naval feast will begin again. But as long as no one challenges the British's maritime hegemony, this naval feast will not last long.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs can secretly contact France and Russia and try to see if they can sign a treaty to limit the size of the army and avoid the outbreak of the European War. "
Frankly speaking, Franz also wanted to challenge the British's maritime hegemony, but he was not strong enough and had to bear the pain and give up.
This wasn't just about building ships. In terms of shipbuilding, Austria really had a chance to compete with the British, but not in other areas.
The Austrian Navy really hadn't encountered any decent opponents, so naturally, there was no chance to accumulate war experience. The best war experience was to eliminate pirates.
If the lack in this area could be made up by the number of warships, then the lack of money was the real hard problem.
Austria's financial income was not low at all, but under the premise of maintaining the continental army, it would not be able to compete for maritime hegemony.
The army was different from the navy. Even if the size of the army was limited, it could be quickly mobilized during the war.
Playing with the armaments limitation treaty was more comforting than the actual binding force.
Of course, it was better than nothing. Before the outbreak of war, it could indeed save a lot of financial expenses. By saving military expenses on the army, everyone had more funds to invest in the navy.
Even if it couldn't shake the British's position as the maritime hegemon, it was a great victory to be able to narrow the gap in strength with the Royal Navy.
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