Chapter 322

Franz had to sigh at how chaotic European politics was. During his two years as emperor, Austria had signed secret treaties with all the European powers.

It was estimated that those who studied international history in the future would sigh at the work of the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs when they saw this pile of secret treaties, leaving behind a bunch of unsolved political mysteries in the world.

First was the "Fao Secret Treaty." It was originally agreed that everyone would happily divide up the Kingdom of Sardinia, but it was aborted because of the French June Revolution.

Then there was the "Anglo-Austrian Memorandum on the Balkans" and "Anglo-Austrian Memorandum of Understanding on the Italian Question." The latter had been completed, and whether the former could be fulfilled depended on the British's moral integrity.

Needless to say, the Russian-Austrian Secret Treaty was nothing more than the continuation and expansion of the alliance between the two countries. The two countries had been allied for decades, and the two sides were each other's most important allies.

Not long ago, a secret treaty was signed with the Kingdom of Prussia. The two countries jointly opposed foreign interference in German affairs. This treaty would be announced when the time was right. It was essentially used to deter the British, so naturally, it would not be kept secret.

That was it? It turned out that the Government of Austria really liked to stir up trouble. The secret negotiations between Austria and Spain ended, and the two countries reached a consensus on overseas colonization – the "Austrian Colonial Treaty" was released.

According to the treaty: the two countries mutually recognized the sovereignty of their respective overseas colonies and provided each other with help in colonization activities, such as obtaining logistical supplies in each other's colonies …

Now that Austria had no colonies, it seemed that the Spanish were at a disadvantage. In fact, the Spanish government attached more importance to this treaty than Austria.

There was no other way. In this era, Spain was in great decline. The empire that never set had left them. The two colonial empires of Britain and France had stepped on their bones in the beginning.

Now that the Austrian Empire was ready to participate in overseas colonization activities, they, the soft persimmon, were in danger again. They might be stepped on again.

In that case, why not choose to cooperate? Austria's conditions were not excessive. It was just that when colonizing overseas, they had to obtain supplies from their ports. It was not like they didn't pay.

This inconspicuous treaty was completed with the help of the Ministry of the Navy. It was true that the persimmon was looking for the soft persimmon to pinch, but Franz was not prepared to flip the table.

If Spain had not been going downhill, Franz would have wanted to form an alliance with them. He wanted to stab France in the back and let them have a good taste of the sandwich biscuit.

In any case, the Spanish power was still there. The declining Spanish Navy was a little stronger than the Austrian Navy.

Not only Spain, but even the Netherlands and Portugal, the two small countries, also attached great importance to it and were still in negotiations.

This was the price of entering late. Using the ports of these small countries as a springboard was more reassuring than using the ports of England and France.

It was not easy to expand the colony. The first problem was logistical supplies. The initial supplies had to be transported from outside.

Just by looking at the map, one could tell that Austria's geographical location was very far to establish an overseas colony! In this, it was that they could it that Austria. the Austria.

In history, the Russian Pacific Fleet expedition was a negative example. Under the blockade of the British, they lacked effective supplies along the way and were ambushed by the Japanese as soon as they arrived.

Franz naturally learned his lesson. No matter what, it was not wrong to try to have a good relationship with the colonial country first. Even if they wanted to fight for territory, they had to wait until they had a firm foothold.

In addition, overseas colonies also needed to learn from experience. Now, Austria had sent people to go deep into the colonies of other countries to collect intelligence and learn their management experience.

However, this method of gathering information wasn't very reliable. They could only see some things on the surface. They needed to learn more about the deeper things.

Don't look at how many experts and professors criticized the backwardness of the colonial management system every day. However, in this era, being able to establish colonial rule, manage a large colony with a small number of people, and earn a lot of profits, this was a kind of ability.

If they worked together, they could learn from each other and learn from their successful experience. That way, they would not lose money in a few days.

In the end, overseas colonization was for profit. If they kept losing money, it would not be long before no one participated.

The Navy did not work blindly. They took the signed treaty and asked the government for funding.

According to the Navy's shipbuilding plan, the government would allocate 50 million guilders to build a naval fleet second only to England and France within five years.

This was not an exaggeration. The navies of the various countries were not big. Even the British had a total tonnage of only a few hundred thousand tons. As long as the navy had a total tonnage of more than ten thousand, it would be ranked in the world.

In terms of tonnage, the Austrian navy was second only to England, France, and Western Russia. Obviously, tonnage did not equate to combat power. The Austrian navy was a coastal navy. They could sail around the Mediterranean Sea, but they would not sink in the ocean, right?

Who knew? In any case, it was a navy of 18,000 tons. In Franz's eyes, it was like a bean sprout navy. It could not compare to a battleship in the future. But the tonnage of the navy in this era was small, and the scale was not too small.

Let's put it this way. If the French suddenly broke out, they could still fight with the British for the position of the world's strongest navy. The gap between the British and French navies was not as big as in the future.

At least, the difference in tonnage was not that big. At the closest, the tonnage difference between the two navies was less than 20%. In theory, if they launched a surprise attack, they might win.

Anyway, everyone was using wooden warships. The difference in shipbuilding technology between the countries was not that big. There were still ten years before the world's first ironclad was born.

Looking at the shipbuilding plan in his hand, Franz did not give face and asked directly, "I remember that last year, the French navy built the Napoleon, which was powered by a steam engine.

You built a bunch of sail warships. It's fine when the wind is with you, but when the wind is against you, can you outrun them? "

The Minister of the Navy, Felcos, explained, "Your Majesty, the French steam engine battleships are expensive to build and difficult to maintain. After driving at full power, they need to undergo a major overhaul.

Steam engine battleships do not show any obvious advantages on the battlefield. The main force of the navies of the various countries is still sail warships. It is too risky to rashly adopt new technology. "

Franz did not care about his reasons and asked directly, "With our shipbuilding technology, can we build it?"

Felcos thought for a moment and said, "In theory, there is no problem. We have mature experience in building merchant ships, so it should not be a problem to apply the steam engine to warships."

Franz was too lazy to complain. The navies of the various countries in this era were terrifyingly conservative. Probably many people did not expect that it was not the British who led the naval technology revolution in this era, but the French.

In 1849, the French were the first to apply the steam engine to warships, which opened the prelude to the naval warship power revolution. In 1859, the French built the world's first ironclad warship, which ended the era of sail warships. In 1863, the French applied the compressed air engine to submarines, which ended the human-powered power and increased the range of submarines' activities.

The naval technology revolution was started by the French, but it still could not change their position as the second largest. Later, when it finally changed, the French would probably rather not change and change from the second largest to the third, fourth, and fifth largest …

Now, the Austrian Navy was undoubtedly the representative of the conservative faction. Just look at the military expenditure of the Austrian Navy. They did not have the money to be willful.

This was also what puzzled Franz. Weren't new technologies first used in the military before being promoted to civilian use?

Why was it the other way around? There were so many Austrian steam ships in the Danube River. Why didn't the navy think of building steam engine battleships?

Difficult to maintain? This could also be a reason. Why didn't they see steam merchant ships using sail power because of the difficulty of maintenance?

Franz said earnestly, "The navy also needs to pay attention to the application of technology. Even if you can't promote technological innovation, you can always learn from others and use the results, right?

Otherwise, what's the use of an outdated navy, no matter how large it is? On the battlefield, it can only be a target for others! "

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Minister of the Navy Felcos replied with a bitter smile.

There was no doubt that the Navy's warship building plan was aborted when it came to Franz.

Technically speaking, it was not difficult to build the first ironclad warships. As early as 1578, the Japanese had already built ironclad warships, which were warships covered with a layer of iron.

Franz did not want to build a bunch of sail warships and take them out to be targets for others, even though the probability of the Austrian Navy engaging in a naval battle in the short term was not high.

He could not come up with epoch-making inventions, but it was not difficult to innovate in military technology, right?

After the French came up with ironclad warships, imitators appeared in just a few months. There were almost no technical obstacles.

The era of warship building technology reflecting the industrial level of each country had not arrived yet. Now, the technology of sail warships was very mature, and the performance of warships between countries was not much different.

Thinking about it, Franz did not immediately propose the theory of ironclad warships. This was not something an emperor should do. Even if he wanted to do it, it had to be done in secret.

Otherwise, William II was an example. He personally designed a warship and it sank directly into the water. It would be strange if there were no problems. Were the German technicians idiots? Did they not know to remind the emperor?

Franz would not give people an opportunity to take advantage of. It was much better to promote technological innovation in secret. It was normal to fail. No new technological innovation was successful in one go.

If it succeeded, it proved that under the leadership of the great emperor, Austria's technological innovation had taken a step forward. As for the credit of invention, as an emperor, he did not need it.