Chapter 677

On July 1, 1853, Prime Minister Felix visited the Grand Duchy of Baden again and had a historic meeting with the regent, Prince Friedrich.

Prime Minister Felix continued to bluff, "Your Highness, the unification of Germany is the common wish of all Germans. The Bavarian government has been abandoned by the people.

History has given us a mission to unify the country at this time. As nobles of the German Region, we have the responsibility to fulfill this obligation. "

Faced with Prime Minister Felix, Prince Friedrich had a headache. "Unification" in the Grand Duchy of Baden was now politically correct. With the Bavarian government as an example, he dared not make a mistake on this issue.

While Felix was bluffing, he also used Austria's military force to threaten them.

The Kingdom of Bavaria had been settled, and the Austrian army involuntarily moved to the border of the Grand Duchy of Baden. There weren't many of them, only about a hundred thousand.

This number was enough to make Prince Friedrich unable to sleep well. In his opinion, even ten thousand Austrian troops were a serious threat, let alone a hundred thousand.

Fortunately, the Austrians knew to be polite before resorting to force, so there was still room for maneuver. Even if they were to be merged, they had to sell it for a good price, right?

Prince Friedrich raised the question in his heart, "Prime Minister, as a noble of the German Region, I am also willing to contribute to the unification of the German Region. The problem now is that the European countries are unwilling to see Germany unified.

Britain, France, and Russia have all made their stance clear. Once the German Region is unified, they will send troops to intervene. The people of Prussia are also colluding with them.

If we can't handle this problem, we might rashly start the process of unification, and it will likely evolve into a large-scale war. "

Nobility was not only a privilege, but also a responsibility. This was the reason why European nobles were respected.

Prince Friedrich couldn't directly reject the unification of Germany, so he simply put the problem of unification in front of him, and at the same time, slandered the people of Prussia.

If Austria couldn't solve this problem, then there was no way to talk about unification. At worst, Austria could just swallow Bavaria and be done with it.

Prince Friedrich had no intention of defending the Bavarian government. The Austrians had already paid attention to their table manners and publicly promised that the two royal families would exchange territories.

Although the specific location was not made public, it was the best choice for the Bavarian royalty. As a royal family abandoned by the people, it couldn't stay on the throne in Bavaria. It was better to keep the foundation in another place.

Prime Minister Felix said confidently, "Your Highness can rest assured on this issue. If we can't solve the diplomatic problem, we won't dare to mention unification at this time.

I'm sure Your Highness is very clear about the current world situation. Britain, France, and Russia are fighting in the Near East. Even if they want to intervene now, they are powerless.

As long as we reach an agreement, the unification of the German Region wouldn't be a problem. The problem now was the Kingdom of Prussia. They had always been ambitious and wanted to annex the whole of Germany.

We will try our best. If the Prussian government opposes it and colludes with the other powers, then we will unify South Germany first.

This is Austria's bottom line. If anyone dares to stand in our way, then we'll meet on the battlefield! "

Prince Friedrich finally understood. The first part was a trick. The last part was Austria's real goal.

After careful calculation, he realized that Austria's plan had a high success rate. The Kingdom of Bavaria was finished. The German Region in the south would no longer have the power to resist them.

If the German Region was unified, Britain, France, and Russia wouldn't be able to tolerate it. If it was the German Region divided, the result would be different.

Austria was powerful, but it was a step on everyone's bottom line. It wouldn't threaten everyone's survival.

For the British, they didn't have to worry about the balance of Europe going out of control. The strengthened Austria would be on par with France. At most, they would be a little stronger. They couldn't compare to Russia.

In any case, Austria was surrounded by Russia, Prussia, and France. At this point, they couldn't expand anymore. Even if they were a little stronger, it would be bearable.

There was no need to mention the Russians. The Russo-Austrian Alliance was a well-known thing. As long as it wasn't the unification of the entire German Region and the Russians felt threatened, they could accept anything else.

Prince Friedrich guessed that Russia and Austria had reached an agreement. Otherwise, the Austrians wouldn't dare to take action at this time.

France alone didn't seem to be able to scare Austria. Who was afraid of a fight? As long as it wasn't a rebirth of Napoleon, Austria, which unified South Germany, wouldn't be afraid at all.

Prince Friedrich couldn't help but tacitly agree that the people supported unification. From this point of view, when calculating Austria's military strength, the strength of several states in South Germany was also included.

This calculation wasn't wrong. When the French attacked, they had to fight even if they didn't want to. When the enemy invaded, would anyone dare to call themselves neutral?

Prince Friedrich thought for a moment and said, "Prime Minister, in principle, I agree with the unification of the German Region. The Duchy of Baden won't be an obstacle to national unification. However, we still need to discuss the details."

There was no room for retreat in the fight for interests. Now, Prince Friedrich naturally had to fight for the interests of the Duchy of Baden, or rather, for his own interests.

Felix revealed a happy expression. He knew that the Duchy of Baden had been settled. Was there any need to be afraid of discussing the specific conditions?

One had to know that there was a law in the world called the Constitution. The central government could completely restrict the rights of local governments through laws.

In the new government, Austria was the absolute leader. How could these small countries compete with them?

Felix said generously, "No problem. Considering that each state in the German Region has its own system, in principle, we advocate for state autonomy.

Other than everyone having to abide by the common Constitution, the central government usually won't interfere with the local government's governance. "

There was a prerequisite for all of this, and that was — temporarily.

Prince Friedrich was satisfied. He had no choice but to be satisfied. Prime Minister Felix's attitude was too firm. If he moved, it would be a threat of force, making it impossible for him to refuse.

As for divulging the Austrian's plan, Prince Friedrich wasn't that stupid. It would be a thankless task.

Even if England and France knew about it, they wouldn't be able to change the outcome of the Duchy of Baden being unified. The best choice now was to be able to sell the Duchy of Baden at a good price.

If they were to fall out, they could refer to the treatment of the Bavarian royalty. Exchanging territories sounded good, but in fact, they would suffer a huge loss. The results of several generations of business would be gone, and they would have to start all over again.

What if the Austrian government was shameless enough to come up with an excuse to take down their throne after eight or ten years? What if the Austrian government came up with another excuse?

In the new country, they didn't have a deep foundation of the people. Even if the royal family was abolished, it wouldn't even cause a stir.

After a week of negotiations, on July 9, 1853, Prime Minister Felix represented Austria and the Duchy of Baden represented by Prince Friedrich signed the Declaration of the Unification of Germany.

To put it simply, from now on, the Duchy of Baden and Austria were considered to be one country, even though the new Shinra Empire hadn't been established yet.

Before that, the Kingdom of Saxony had already signed the agreement. The Government of Austria used a combination of coercion and bribery, and the people in the country followed suit. It was hard for them not to compromise!

The nationalism in the German Region had already exploded. The Bavarian government that obstructed the unification of the country was killed by Austria, and the Duchy of Saxony and the Duchy of Baden had reached an agreement with Austria.

It seemed that the day of the unification of the German Region wasn't far away. When Prime Minister Felix arrived in Württemberg, the welcoming crowd had already filled the streets. In the end, they had no choice but to negotiate in a manor outside the city.

When Austria issued the declaration of war, everyone thought that war was inevitable. In the end, the Bavarians' actions successfully turned the war into an armed demonstration, and the dawn of peaceful unification appeared once again.

The Württemberg government was already under a lot of pressure before the negotiations started. Before this, many people had already publicly stated that if a war for unification broke out, they wouldn't help the government fight.

In order to prevent the Bavarian government from repeating the same thing, the Kingdom of Württemberg naturally gave in. As long as Austria could handle the international pressure, everyone would be a family.

On July 11, 1853, the unestablished Shinra Empire had already appeared: Austria, Bavaria, Baden, Saxony, and Württemberg.

South Germany had basically been unified. On the way to Hesse Darmstadt, Felix had already announced that the Free City of Frankfurt had joined the Shinra Empire.

At this time, Britain, France, and Russia, who were prepared to intervene, had already reached an agreement. On July 6, Britain, France, and Russia jointly issued a statement, announcing a one-month truce in the Near East.

The next day, 12 European countries, including Britain, France, and Russia, issued a joint note, asking Austria to stop the unification of Germany.

There were no threatening words, just this note, and Austria had no choice but to stop the unification. Fortunately, at this time, Franz's goal had been achieved.

The German Region, which had just seen the dawn of unification, immediately fell into a wail. Many people helplessly discovered that unification was still far away.

This time, the Kingdom of Prussia also appeared among the intervening countries. Franz didn't find it surprising. What was a little infamy for the sake of benefits?

Anyway, now that their reputation was ruined, Frederick William IV Of Denmark didn't mind being scolded a few more times.

If the Kingdom of Prussia didn't participate in this operation, it was certain that this partition of the German Region would have nothing to do with them.

Supporting Prussia against Austria? Such a good thing, just think about it in your dreams.

Britain said that Hanover was their little brother, and they couldn't give up. Otherwise, where would their boss put his face? Wasn't it enough to keep Austria, France, and Russia in check?

The French said, I'm not stupid. Isn't it enough to have Austria as a competitor? Now you want to add another?

The Russians said, Sure, we'll support you in spirit, but if you want practical benefits, fight for it yourself. Russia isn't stupid.

Europe's benefits were so great. If the people of Prussia took one more share, it meant that others would have one less share.

Which idiot would be willing to take out their own benefits to nurture an opponent?

The geographical location had already been determined. Once the Kingdom of Prussia rose, it would be everyone's competitor. Because there wasn't enough meat left for the Kingdom of Prussia, they could only fight for it.

Keep Austria in check? After the German Region was divided, Austria's expansion would be blocked.

To the west was France, to the east was Russia, to the north was Prussia, to the south was the Balkans, and to the southwest was the Kingdom of Sardinia, which was Britain's little brother. The other countries in the German Region of Italy were Austria's little brother, and they couldn't bear to eat them.

What choice could Austria make? Oh, there was also Switzerland, which didn't have anything. Unless the Government of Vienna collectively had water in their brains, they wouldn't be interested in the backbone of Europe.

According to the plan proposed by the Russians, Austria could either stay put, or go out and fight for colonies if they wanted to expand!

This Britain and France really weren't afraid. Austria really wasn't a match for them in overseas competition. The geographical location had determined that Austria was naturally at a disadvantage in overseas colonization.

As long as they developed overseas colonies, they would be choked by Britain and France. If they didn't have a good relationship with them, they wouldn't be able to gain anything.