Chapter 704

Forming an alliance wasn't something that could be done in a flash. The pros and cons had to be carefully weighed, especially when the ally was the British.

This wasn't the first time that Britain and France had formed an alliance. Based on past alliances, the results were always unsatisfactory.

Napoleon IV was not fooled by the flowery words of the British. No matter how much they boasted, they had to come to the truth to make it count.

As long as Britain and France formed an alliance, Britannia would support France's expansion into Central Europe. Napoleon Iv didn't believe that such a big pie would fall on his head for no reason.

It was also because the pie was too big and Napoleon Iv couldn't bear to throw it away.

Prime Minister Terence Burkin: "Your Majesty, the British proposal seems to be beneficial to us, but it's actually full of evil intentions.

On the surface, they support our expansion into Central Europe, but in reality, they want us to help them contain Austria.

Judging from the current international situation, once we expand into Central Europe, we will encounter the joint hostility of European countries and even trigger a new round of European war.

If the situation really gets out of control, I really have no confidence in the British. With their style, if they don't hit us when we are down, then … "

This was the truth. The anti-French alliance existed in name only, but that was based on the premise that France didn't pose a threat to everyone.

Once they showed their tiger's teeth and made the European countries feel threatened, this alliance that existed in name would immediately become a real alliance.

Rather than expecting the British and France to challenge Europe together, it would be better for France to challenge Europe alone. At least they wouldn't have to worry about being stabbed in the back by their allies.

Minister of War Lucinia Hafiz: "Prime Minister, there are two sides to everything. The British are certainly not well-intentioned, but as long as we make good use of them, we can also gain a lot of benefits for France.

Although there are many European countries, most of them are small countries. There are only a few worthy of our attention.

In addition to Russia, Austria, and Britain, the remaining three countries, Spain, the Nordic Federation, and the German Confederation, can only be considered half.

Among them, Spain is our ally and won't stop us from moving eastward. The Nordic Federation is far away in the Baltic Sea and has no conflict of interest.

The British can use them to contain Austria, so why can't we use them to contain Russia?

As long as the British and Russians fight in Central Asia, Austria alone can't stop us from annexing the territories west of the Rhineland.

Worst comes to worst, we can conquer the Rhine River with Austria. With the House of Habsburg, they probably won't fight us to the death.

As long as we take down the Rhineland and Belgium, we will be able to make up for our lack of resources. "

Of course, they had ambition. It was just that France's pro-war faction was born at the wrong time and never got the opportunity to display it.

After waiting for a long time, he finally welcomed this opportunity. In the eyes of the French military, this was not a case of Britain and Russia restraining each other. It was clearly creating an opportunity for France and Austria to fight.

With their old enemy, the Hapsburg Dynasty, France's status as the hegemon of Europe could never be well-deserved. They had to use a war to prove who was better.

Of course, now was not the time to talk about this. It wouldn't be good if they scared the emperor. After all, Austria seemed to be quite big, and they were good at getting allies.

If a decisive battle were to take place immediately, although the military was very confident, there were still many people in the government who were not optimistic.

Lucinia Hafiz was still very politically savvy. In order to reduce the resistance, she did not mention the duel with Ao.

He even changed the concept and turned Fao's battle with Austria to divide the German Region. Not only did it lessen the risk, but it also got the support of the capitalists.

The economy minister, Elsa, objected. "No, it's not the time to go east. Our farm plan is in progress. If it's interrupted by the war, all the investment will be for naught.

The German Confederation isn't as weak as everyone thinks. They have 70,000 troops in the Rhineland. Together with the 50,000 troops in Belgium, they have 120,000 troops.

As long as the war drags on for a month or two, Austrian reinforcements will come. Everyone saw the war between Prussia and Russia. Now, it's different. Millions of troops are involved in the decisive battle.

Once the war breaks out, it's impossible to determine the winner in a short period of time. Austria has a group of allies to share the pressure, but we can only fight alone. We can't count on the British.

It's wishful thinking to expect the Government of Austria to compromise. How can the House of Habsburg rule the German Region if they watch us annex the territory west of the Rhine? "

The economy minister's worry was the reason why everyone was hesitant. It wasn't reliable to pin their hopes on Austria's compromise.

Everyone was confident in France against any enemy, but the problem was that the enemy was going to fight in groups!

These days, the countries on the European continent were better at fighting. Even a small country like Belgium could deploy more than a hundred thousand troops.

The larger North Germany could muster a million troops as long as they coordinated their internal relations.

Not to mention Austria, they could easily earn a few million. If other countries joined in, France would have to face an astronomical number of enemies.

No matter how good the French army was, they couldn't fight against so many ants.

Besides, the French army wasn't that good. The performance of the French army in the overseas colonies had already made many senior government officials doubt the combat effectiveness of the French army.

There was no value in winning one-on-one. Once the European war broke out, they would have to face at least twice or even three or four times the number of enemies.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Karel Kadlec, interrupted, "Gentlemen, you've gone too far. You're making it sound like we have to start a European war as long as we ally with the British.

In fact, these are two completely different things. What we're discussing now is whether to ally with the British. As for the expansion into Central Europe, that's a matter for the future.

Personally, I'm in favor of allying with the British. If France wants to get rid of its isolation, it needs more allies.

Perhaps the British have ulterior motives. Allying with us at this time is just to counter the pressure from Russia and Austria in Central Asia.

But we have no better choice other than the British.

We don't expect the British to really support our expansion into Central Europe, as long as they don't join the anti-French alliance when we move east.

Besides, allying with the British doesn't mean that we really have to cooperate with them.

Austria has no interests in Central Asia. They are only involved because of the Russo-Austrian Alliance. They can't go to war with the British for the interests of Russia.

The British want us to contain Austria, so we'll just do it symbolically. Anyway, the Austrians also want to facilitate the outbreak of a war between Britain and Russia. We can totally cooperate. "

The reality was cruel, but it had to be faced. France was indeed powerful, and it was so powerful that it had no friends.

The promise of the British might not be fulfilled, but with this ally, the diplomatic environment of the Government of France would be greatly improved.

In essence, both sides were taking what they needed. If they didn't hold each other back, then they would be worthy of this paper alliance.

…

Vienna Palace. Ever since he received the news that Britain and France intended to ally, Franz didn't feel good.

It seemed that there were two opposing camps in Europe, but in fact, the geographical location determined that Russia could hide in the back, and Austria had to bear the pressure of the two great powers alone.

The threat on land was still not obvious. The combat power was still the French, and the British could be ignored.

It was different at sea. Seeing that the Austrian Navy was about to have the strength to threaten the Royal Navy, with the alliance between Britain and France, they had to tuck their tails between their legs.

This meant that in the overseas competition, Austria would once again be in a disadvantageous position, unable to compete with Britain and France.

Not only that, Franz thought even more. As the two countries of the Fao and France continued to grow, the British were already feeling the pressure.

In this context, it was not impossible for the British to plot to start a war with the Fao and use the war to weaken the two enemies.

The confrontation between Britain and Russia would contain each other, but wouldn't it create an opportunity for the Fao and France to turn against each other?

Although the conflict between Britain and Russia was fierce, even if a war really broke out between the two countries, once the situation in Europe was out of control, the two countries could still unite.

Provoking a war between the two countries of the Fao and France, when the two countries were about to fight, then pulling Russia to interfere, not allowing the two countries to determine the winner.

If Franz was in the position of the British, he would do the same. Otherwise, if the two countries of the Fao and France continued to grow, how would there be a chance for Britannia to intervene in Europe in the future?

Guesses were ultimately just guesses. Before things actually happened, Franz didn't dare to easily come to a conclusion.

The French weren't fools. Running to a decisive battle with Austria under the background of a fisherman was obviously not in line with their own interests.

The same was true for Austria. Unless they were stupid, the Government of Vienna wouldn't be stupid enough to attack the French.

…

Foreign Minister Wesenberg: "After many verifications, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has confirmed that the British and French are in the midst of alliance negotiations.

The specific content of the negotiations is unknown, but it is certain that there is definitely a lot of content against us.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has tried many times to destroy the Anglo-French alliance, but with little success. Even when we proposed to reorganize the three-country alliance, it was rejected by the British and French. "

If they couldn't destroy it, they would find a way to join in and then split the alliance from the inside. This kind of diplomatic method that worked every time wouldn't work here.

However, this also supported the fact that the Anglo-French alliance was against Austria.

Prime Minister Carr: "If we can't stop the Anglo-French alliance, then the importance of the Russo-Austrian Alliance has greatly increased.

From now on, not only does the Russians need us, but we also need the Russians.

In the upcoming war in Central Asia, we have to make great efforts to support the Tsarist government.

The four major countries in Europe are now separated into two major alliances that oppose each other. I'm afraid that the international situation will be turbulent for a long time in the future.

Once the confrontation escalates, it may even trigger a new round of war in Europe. From now on, we need to prepare for a rainy day. "

There was no other way. The international situation couldn't be influenced by individual will. Although Franz had been trying to avoid it, there was still a situation where the two alliances confronted each other.

In a sense, this result wasn't too bad. Two against two was better than one against three.

Now that the Anglo-French alliance was formed, the first to be affected was the Russians. The relationship between the Anglo-French and the Russians deteriorated, the Russo-Austrian Alliance became more solid, and Austria's eastern front was safe.