Since receiving the news from the Government of Prussia, the top officials of the Government of Austria instantly had a bad feeling.
Could the Englishmen have done it? No one doubted that John Bull's moral integrity was only that high.
At the last Frankfurt Conference, the British proposed to break up the German Confederation. Now, in order to implement this plan, they exerted diplomatic pressure on the Kingdom of Prussia, which was completely normal.
Franz was also shocked. In fact, the British completely had the motive to do this. This was determined by their national policy – the European Continent Balance Strategy.
According to this plan, the German Confederation would become a large country and two medium-sized countries. They would have a certain amount of power to stop France and Russia from continuing to expand into Central Europe, and there would be no possibility of a major threat to their status.
This kind of European structure was theoretically the most stable. No matter which country, France or Russia, expanded into Europe, it would be resisted by at least two of the countries. Coupled with the support of the British, it was safe.
Whoever wanted to unify the German Region must be prepared to challenge the major European powers. Even if Austria obtained the support of Russia, there was no possibility of success.
It was not that Franz underestimated himself. The scattered small German states were not a concern, but once they merged into a country, even the most useless of them could pull out three to four hundred thousand troops.
Coupled with the participation of Britain and France, unless Austria pulled the Kingdom of Prussia to divide this new country, it would be Russia and Austria versus Britain, France, Prussia and Germany. There might even be the appearance of troops from other European countries.
Franz had no doubt about the British's method of pulling allies. It was estimated that Belgium and the Netherlands would join the ranks to prevent the unification of the German Region, and maybe Switzerland would stab Austria in the back.
What was the chance of victory? Anyway, Franz did not find out. Unless the battlefield was in Russia, they might be able to freeze the enemy to death in the winter.
Of course, fear was one thing, but the Government of Austria was not afraid.
The Russian Empire was the overlord of Europe. In everyone's mind, the Russians had no problem fighting Britain and France on land. Austria could also deal with Prussia and Germany.
From their point of view, the only problem was the geographical location. He was afraid that England and France would not attack the Russians, but attack the Austrians to death, and that would be the end of the Austrians.
It was always good to have confidence. at least it proved that the Austrian Empire had not fallen. The pride of a big country was still there. If the government was afraid after hearing this news, then Franz would not be able to lead it.
Metternich said angrily, "Your Majesty, it is necessary to help the Kingdom of Prussia. As long as they hold on, the British's sinister plan will not come true."
Although he had opposed expanding into Germany before, that was before. Ever since the signing of the secret treaty between Russia and Australia, Metternich had slowly changed his stance.
He knew that there was no turning back for Austria. Other than expanding their forces and strengthening their own strength as much as possible, they had no other choice. The westward march into Germany was an essential part of this strategy.
After all, it, the Germany, of Great Country's the Countries' strength of Powers had grown. in of the countries of of. how. how. how.
In such a long time, it was unknown how much the strength of each country had grown. In this era of the law of the jungle, falling behind meant that danger was coming.
Prime Minister Felix thought for a moment and said, "This news was released by the Government of Prussia. I'm afraid they don't want to compromise.
Mr. Metternich, based on your understanding of the Kingdom of Prussia, if we propose to join forces to divide up the German Region, what are the chances of him agreeing? "
Metternich analyzed, "That depends on how we divide it, but I don't think it will be easy to reach an agreement.
The defeat of the Prussian War had dealt a blow to the radicals in the Prussia military, but they still had a great influence on the government.
According to the original plan, we were to annex South Germany, and North Germany would eat as much as it could. Even if we made concessions now, we would at most give up North Germany.
These interests may not be enough to satisfy the radicals in the Prussia military, but many people in the Government of Prussia should be satisfied. Not everyone is so ambitious.
If the British put too much pressure on them, maybe someone in the Government of Prussia will force Frederick William IV Of Denmark to compromise with us. "
Currently, the relationship between Prussia and Austria was still passable. Everyone secretly played dirty tricks on each other, but on the surface, they had not shed all pretense of cordiality. On many issues, everyone was still cooperating with each other.
According to the British plan, the Kingdom of Prussia would be driven out of the German Confederation without getting anything.
If they joined forces with the Government of Austria to divide up the German Region, they could get the rich North Germany, and at the same time, increase the population of the Kingdom of Prussia by half.
These gains could also allow the Kingdom of Prussia to go further and gain a foothold among the great powers. It would not be as awkward as it was now.
Franz thought about it and said, "Then let's contact the Government of Prussia secretly first. They are still not clear about the Russian-Austrian secret agreement.
Even if the news of dividing up the German Region is leaked, as long as we refuse to admit it, Britain and France can't do anything to us. "
Grand Duke Louis suggested, "Your Majesty, if we do something now and use the British to kick the Kingdom of Prussia out, wouldn't it be more beneficial for us?"
If they could eat it alone, why should they share it?
If Britain and France joined forces to force them, Austria would play dirty tricks, and Bavaria would be a traitor. The Kingdom of Prussia might really not be able to withstand the pressure.
This time, the Russians would definitely not support Prussia. There was no other reason. His Majesty Tsar was vengeful.
With the Russian bureaucrats' nature of bootlicking, they would most likely get things done first and then report to Nicholas I Of Russia.
For the specific situation, they could refer to the last Christmas gift. The representative of Russia had forced the Government of Prussia to withdraw its troops before Christmas.
It was naturally good to eat it alone, but they had to be prepared for the Kingdom of Prussia to stab them in the back. If they could suppress Prussia, of course, they could do it.
As long as the Austrian Empire was a little stronger, and the Russian Empire had not really fallen, then Franz did not mind eating it alone.
Franz shook his head and said, "It's not that easy. At this critical moment, it's better to have one more friend than one more enemy.
After Austria annexed South Germany, our strategic goal has been achieved. If the Northern German State is given up, we will give it up.
It's easy to choke if you are too greedy. Our trump card is the Russian – Austrian Secret Treaty, but the Russians may not be so reliable.
If they don't work hard and can't suppress the Kingdom of Prussia, we will have to fight on two fronts. "
Under normal circumstances, the Government of Prussia would not agree to Austria's distribution plan. However, once the news of the Russian – Austrian Secret Treaty was revealed, the Government of Prussia would definitely compromise.
This was the reality. No matter how many promises Britain and France made, it would not have any effect.
Who asked the Kingdom of Prussia to be too close to Russia and Austria? If they dared to mix with Britain and France, they would probably not be able to wait for Britain and France's reinforcements.
The alliance of the three Northern European courts was actually determined by geopolitics. Austria and Russia joined forces. The Kingdom of Prussia did not want to be in danger, so it could only join this alliance.
Otherwise, after the conclusion of the Russian – Austrian Secret Treaty, Nicholas I Of Russia's first reaction would not be to pull the Kingdom of Prussia into the alliance. This was not because they had a good relationship, but because the possibility of the Kingdom of Prussia joining was very high.
Because of the Prussian War, the Tsarist government had to temporarily give up this tempting plan. The Russians were still worried that the Government of Prussia would leak the news.
If they could not catch Britain and France off guard, it would be difficult for the Russia's strategy to succeed. If Britain and France were to inject blood, the Osman Empire's combat power could not be underestimated.
This was also the key to the success of the Government of Austria's westward strategy. After all, they followed behind the Russians and waited for Britain and France to form a team to fight with the Russians before Austria took action.
Thanks to the Vienna system, the French military strength was greatly weakened. Now they had a lot of troops, but the mobilization mechanism was broken.
In order to avoid being suppressed by the European countries, Emperor Philip did not have many troops in the mainland, let alone a large number of reserves.
The active French army only had more than 300,000 troops. Once they sent more than 100,000 troops to fight with Russia, they would not have many troops to intervene in Austria's army.
Mass production led to a qualitative change. As long as Austria was well-prepared and mobilized enough troops, if the French intervened, they could just beat them back.
The French would basically be defeated once. At that time, Napoleon Iii would not have enough time to extinguish the fire in the country, how could he care about Austria?
As for the Kingdom of Prussia, Franz was ready to start the operation. He would first put 500,000 troops on the Prussia border, then use strategic materials to lure the Russians to concentrate the troops on the eastern front on the Prussia border.
If Austria took the advantage alone, the Kingdom of Prussia might take a military risk and burn their boats. But now that Franz had left them a benefit, the Government of Prussia could only compromise.
Everyone had a family and a career, and the person in charge of the Government of Prussia was not a teenager. How could they blindly take risks?
Even the radicals would probably choose to take over the North German region first. As long as this bait was eaten, the Kingdom of Prussia could only stop and digest the results.
…
The Government of Prussia, which originally intended to unite with Austria, naturally would not refuse the olive branch extended by the Government of Austria.
It turned out that the Government of Austria's judgment of the Kingdom of Prussia was wrong. After experiencing the defeat in the Prussian War, many people within the Government of Prussia lost confidence in the strategy to unify Germany.
This was the tragedy of a small country. They could not afford to fail. After the failure, everyone's confidence was gone.
As soon as the armistice between the Prussian and Danish countries was signed, the internal contradictions in the Kingdom of Prussia broke out. The revolutionaries launched another uprising, but the uprising was quickly suppressed by the army.
In this context, Frederick William IV Of Denmark had no time to stabilize the regime. The strategic plan to unify the German Region had long been thrown out the window.
In history, after the Kingdom of Prussia's plan was thwarted, it also fell into a low ebb. It was not until the Iron Prime Minister came to power and through a series of alliances, won the second Danish War, and restored the morale.
Under Bismarck's efforts, the people of Prussia summoned up the courage to challenge Austria. After winning the Prussian War, the Prussia army completed its transformation.
Many experts and scholars believed that after Prussia won the war, the Government of Prussia let Austria go was a diplomatic arrangement to avoid Austria backstabbing in the future Franco-Prussian War.
Bismarck was also worried that after annexing Austria, it would cause an increase in Catholics in the new German Empire, which would lead to domestic religious conflicts.
Franz didn't think so. Even if they couldn't annex Austria, couldn't they cede territory and pay reparations?
In the history of the Prussian War, Austria lost the war, and the main loss was reflected in politics. In fact, the price paid wasn't big.
In this era, Franz only knew how bad the financial situation of the Kingdom of Prussia was. Considering the situation at the time, Austria wasn't without the power to fight.
After the defeat of the decisive battle, the mobilization of Austria's reserves was almost completed. If the Kingdom of Prussia didn't give up, it would become a protracted war.
After looking at his shriveled wallet, Bismarck decisively chose to stop while he was ahead.
Interests were fought for with strength. Since Austria still had strength, the price they had to pay was naturally not big.
If the Government of Austria chose to fight to the end with the Kingdom of Prussia, they might not have to pay anything. When the Kingdom of Prussia ran out of money, they would naturally retreat.
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