Chapter 585

On December 4, 1852, the opening of the railway from Vienna to Salzburg did not cause a sensation other than the news being published in the newspapers.

Recently, there had been a lot of railways opening in Austria. Other than the initial surprise, the Austrian people were already used to it.

The railway companies were the most affected. After investing so much money, they could finally see the return of the money, which was directly reflected in the stock market. The railway's booming operation stimulated the stock market to rise again.

As for the strategic value of the railway, not many people paid attention to it. No matter how convenient the railway was, how could it compare to the Danube River?

Franz was naturally happy. The idea of a unified Germany had become a hot topic, and now it was time to start the next step of the plan.

Franz joked, "Prime Minister, your visit to the German states this time is a very important task. If you can convince everyone to rebuild the Holy Roman Empire, then we'll make a lot of money."

Convince everyone to agree to rebuild the Holy Roman Empire. Unless Austria put a bayonet on their necks, everyone could live a good life. Why would they want to find a boss to manage them?

Times were different now. The German Region's nationalism had awakened. No matter how free the state governments were, the emergence of a central government would harm their interests.

No matter how loose the empire was in this period, a constitution was indispensable. It was inevitable that the autonomy of the various governments would be greatly reduced.

There was no need to think about independent foreign relations. A unified currency was inevitable, and tariffs would definitely be abolished. These three things alone meant that the central government was no longer an empty shell.

With these things, Franz could responsibly say that he could use political means to control most of the small states.

If he was a little more shameless, he could provoke a foreign war and use the war as an excuse to get the command of the various states' armies.

This was what the Americans did. They relied on getting the command of the states' armies during the war, increasing the authority of the central government, and finally turning the loose federation into a unified country.

Prime Minister Felix laughed and said, "Your Majesty, this joke is not funny at all. If I can convince them, then what's the point of having an army? "

Franz's butterfly effect worked again. Felix Schwarzenberg, who had died in an accident on April 5, was still alive and kicking.

Naturally, there was no change of prime minister. Felix's political ability was still very good, and he could manage the cabinet with ease. Franz was not Emperor Chongzhen, who did not like to make trouble.

Felix knew very well what this visit was for. Persuading the states to rebuild the Holy Roman Empire was simply a cover. The real purpose was to create an excuse for war.

Only after the peaceful unification efforts failed could the Government of Austria launch a unification war to gain the support of the people.

No, it should be to unify the South German region, and at most, the Central German region. Any more and they would choke to death. The Kingdom of Prussia was not so easy to deal with.

Of course, the slogan was to unify the German Region. Otherwise, the nationalists would not buy it. Without their support, the war would not be easy to fight.

Franz said seriously, "It doesn't matter. There are so many states in Germany. I don't believe that none of these small states are stupid."

This was not Franz's nonsense. In history, the people of Prussia had successfully tricked a few small states to help them wave flags and shout battle cries. After they were done, they directly swallowed those states.

On the contrary, the fiercely resisting South German States retained a lot of power. Because of the fear of intervention by the great powers, the people of Prussia did not dare to continue the civil war after the Franco-Prussian War and had to compromise with the South German States.

"Your Majesty, I plan to start with the most difficult one, Prussia. Anyway, in the German States, other than us, the Kingdom of Prussia is the most powerful. As long as they oppose, the momentum will be created.

However, in this way, I'm afraid that the diplomatic pressure will increase greatly. The European countries do not want to see the German Region unified, "Prime Minister Felix said.

Metternich said, "Prime Minister, the diplomatic problem is easy to solve. If we use negotiation to solve the problem of German unification, I think many people will treat it as a joke. What we need to do now is to make this plan even more of a joke.

As long as they see that all the states of Germany oppose our proposal, the pressure we will face will not be that great. "

Everyone laughed. It was true that the countries opposed the unification of the German Region. However, if Austria only shouted slogans and did not take any real action, they would not be interested in interfering.

They could not make the Austrians shut up. Everyone played politics and knew the slogans of the politicians. They just needed to listen.

In order to make the show more realistic, the Austrian cabinet began to role-play as early as a few years ago. The whole of Europe knew the political stance of these cabinet ministers.

Prime Minister Felix played the role of the peaceful unification party, or rather, the reestablishment of Shinra. The supporter in the cabinet was Minister of Finance Carr. The two of them formed the leaders of the "Shinra faction" in Austria.

At the same time, they were also the leaders of the "Shinra faction" in the German Region. At present, at least 35% of the Germans supported or agreed with their political ideas.

Metternich played the role of the opposition. This had always been his political stance, and the whole of Europe knew it.

Otherwise, when the Vienna System was established, Austria should have chosen the Kingdom of Bavaria instead of the economically rich Lombardy.

Grand Duke Louis in the cabinet was a supporter of Metternich. Their banner declared that it was impossible to unify the German Region. The reason was that the states had been independent for a long time and the European countries would not tolerate the unification of Germany.

For this reason, the two were often scolded by the German nationalists.

Because of the support of public opinion, the "Shinra faction" led by Prime Minister Felix had the advantage in the Government of Austria.

At this time, there was nothing wrong with Felix standing up and advocating "rebuilding the Holy Roman Empire".

After Christmas, Felix embarked on his journey under the cheers of the people.

In the eyes of the German nationalists, this was a crucial step towards unification.

As the leader of the German Confederation, the Government of Austria had already begun to work for unification. This was a turning point in history.

Whatever the outcome of the negotiations, wherever Felix passed, he was welcomed by crowds of people.

It was not that the brand "Shinra" was popular. In fact, many people did not feel anything about the disbanded Shinra Empire.

However, they wanted the unification of the German Region and did not want a war to break out. Therefore, "rebuilding the Holy Roman Empire" was the best choice. There was no other option.

The "Shinra faction" could become the mainstream ideology of German nationalism only because the people hoped that the German Region could be peacefully unified. Hence, they were called the "peaceful unification faction."

Unfortunately, these people could not dominate the German Region. The rulers of the states had to consider their own interests first.

…

Berlin

Although Frederick William IV Of Denmark supported the unification movement, it was only for political needs. It did not mean that he was willing to sacrifice his own interests for the unification of Germany.

The unification of Germany that the Kingdom of Prussia had always pursued excluded Austria. If they could not achieve this goal, the unification was worthless to them.

In history, Frederick William IV Of Denmark used the "Three Kings Alliance" as the core and attempted to use the Erfurt Union Parliament to exclude Austria.

This was also the political position of the Lesser Germany ideology. The reason for excluding Austria was very simple: the German Empire of the United Austria was too large to the point that the European countries could not tolerate it.

Of course, this was only one of the reasons. There were many other reasons, such as: there were too many other ethnic groups in Austria, which would destroy the purity of the German nation …

Prime Minister Josef von Radowitz said seriously, "The Austrian's ambition has been exposed. Based on the current international situation, it is likely that they have the support of Russia.

We have always guessed that the Russia – Austria Secret Treaty was probably Austria supporting the Russians to annex the Osman Empire in exchange for Russia's support to rebuild the Holy Roman Empire.

I have to say that the Austrians were ruthless enough to do something like asking a tiger for its skin. Now they have chosen a good time. Britain, France, and Russia have already declared war, and a lot of their energy has been tied up.

If they want to interfere in the German Region, they must let the Russians annex the Osman Empire. Napoleon Iii may interfere in Central Europe first, but the Government of London will certainly hesitate.

If the Government of Austria can unify the German Region through diplomatic means, even if it is only a nominal unification, the French will not dare to act rashly. "

If the Russians annexed the Osman Empire, the French would only lose their interests in the Near East and Egypt. In the Mediterranean, the French Navy could still suppress the Russians.

It was different for the British. They would not only lose their interests in the Mediterranean. In Palmerston's words, "If we can't stop the Russians in the The Balkans, then we will have to stop them in the Indus River Valley."

Once the Russians annexed the Osman Empire, Persia would not be able to stop the Russians. This meant that India would be in danger.

In this era, the British only controlled India. They had not yet had the time to annex it. If the Russians came out and messed things up, their most important colony might fly away.

When faced with a dilemma, hesitation was inevitable.

After all, the Holy Roman Empire was still a loose empire. Before the internal integration was completed, it would not be able to expand. With the French blocking in front, the British would not be threatened in the short term.

Frederick William IV Of Denmark sneered and said, "The Austrians are too optimistic. Franz, that brat, is probably fooled!

As long as we do not agree, the German Region will not be unified. Does he really think that the German states will be willing to be unified by the Austrians?

If they cannot rely on political means to rebuild the Holy Roman Empire, what will the Austrians do? Is it possible to use military force to unify the German Region? "

Joseph von Radowitz shook his head and said, "Your Majesty, this is impossible. Although the Austrian military is strong, it is impossible to unify the German Region without the intervention of other powers.

Once the Austrians use force, we will form an alliance with the German states to defend against their attack.

We can even deliberately allow the Austrians to destroy the military forces of these small states. As long as we do not recklessly fight with them and delay until the French send troops to intervene, Austria will definitely lose.

As long as we do it well, the power of these small states will be greatly reduced after the war, and the opportunity to unify the German Region will appear.

Metternich, that old fox, will definitely see that Felix is wholeheartedly pursuing peaceful unification. Because of this, with them around, the Government of Austria will not take the risk. "

Joseph von Radowitz's judgment was correct. This was also one of the reasons why Franz did not dare to take the risk.

As long as the Prussia army did not come out to fight with the Austrians, it would be impossible to destroy their main force in a short period of time, no matter if they defended the city or retreated.

If this dragged on for a month or two, the French intervention army would arrive, and Austria would not be able to withstand the Franco-Prussian alliance.

If this dragged on for a few more days, the British, Spanish, and the intervention army of a group of small European countries would arrive.

Under these circumstances, Austria had no hope of victory at all. They had bet all their assets, and if they failed, it would be over.

Could it be that they could expect the Austrian army to break out and get rid of Prussia and France before the intervention troops arrived?

Large countries maintain stability, small countries take risks.

Franz, who was familiar with history, knew that only the winner who survived to the end was the true winner. Countries that relied on brute force to win would end up in tragedy.

Japan and Germany were typical examples. They were all countries with explosive combat power. When they exploded, they would be beaten up by everyone until they were paralyzed and had to give up all the gains they had gained in the early stages.

On the other hand, Italy, who had been muddling along, had become a victorious country in two world wars and gained a lot of advantages.

Even the arrogant French, after suffering a loss, knew that if they could win by lying down, they should not act recklessly.

With so many predecessors' cases, how could Franz dare to act recklessly? Although the Austrian army seemed to be very strong after training, the problem was that they could only explode in one wave!

If they couldn't end the war quickly, the weakness of Austria's multi-ethnic country would be exposed.

According to the current plan, it would be much safer. They would only attack the areas with a good foundation of people. Since the stall was small, the risk was naturally small.

After the matter was done, they could complete the internal integration in the shortest time possible. If the French dared to come out, they would be the invaders and could enjoy the morale bonus of fighting on their home soil.

Frederick William IV Of Denmark sighed and said, "It's a pity. If it weren't for these old foxes, we could still send someone to try.

Now, it's better to think of a way to destroy the Austrian plan. It's best if we don't cause resentment among the people. Our reputation can't be tossed around anymore. "

It was difficult to do anything with a bad reputation. After being tricked by the German State, the Government of Prussia's reputation was not good until now.

Not only in the German Region, but even in the country, the people of Prussia were not very fond of the government.

No matter how they explained, the government's promises were not fulfilled, and the people always felt that the government had cheated them of their money. The nationalists, in particular, were very dissatisfied with the compromise between the government and the Russians.