Chapter 705

In March 1867, Austria conducted a massive military exercise on the Prussia border, which frightened the people of Prussia.

They had just finished the Prussian War and were busy licking their wounds. They did not have the courage to start another Prussian War.

If they were to fight at this time, not only would they have to give up all the previous gains, but it would also be difficult for them to protect themselves.

In the Berlin palace, Foreign Minister Mckate said, "The Austrians are demonstrating. They will not start a war at this time.

Once the war breaks out, the Russians will definitely continue the war. The Tsarist government only needs to follow behind and take back Poland and the Baltic Sea region.

This is not what the Government of Vienna wants to see. A strong Russian Empire is not in their interest. The Russo-Austrian Alliance only exists temporarily because of interests. Sooner or later, they will go against each other for European hegemony.

There is also the current international situation. The Government of Vienna cannot ignore it. The European countries do not want to see a domineering Austria. If they start a war at this time, they will be isolated.

If the war breaks out and the French attack the Rhineland, will the Government of Vienna intervene or not?

If they intervene, it is likely to cause a full-scale war between the FAO and Austria. If they don't intervene, how can they claim to be the leader of the German Region? "

Mckate did not say the real reason for being fearless. They definitely could not win. The Kingdom of Prussia was now exhausted.

But as long as the Government of Berlin was shameless enough, there was still a chance to trick Austria and reverse the current passive state.

Once the French invaded the Rhineland region, the Government of Prussia could directly admit defeat and join the new Holy Roman Empire, asking Austria to defend the territorial integrity of the German Region.

Thus, the war between France and Austria erupted, and the situation changed. If the French gained the upper hand or the war was in a stalemate, they could change sides again.

Do not doubt the integrity of the politicians. As long as the benefits were big enough, there was nothing they could not do.

The pillars of the Kingdom of Prussia were the Juncker nobles. Even if the Government of Vienna wanted to buy them, they could not afford the price.

The two sides had already been in contact in private. If Franz was willing to compromise, the German Region could be unified at any time.

The Juncker nobles opposed joining the new Holy Roman Empire only for benefits. If Prussia could obtain the same status as Austria and protect their interests, then they could merge at any time.

Obviously, this was impossible. If they compromised, the new Holy Empire would split again.

An empire could only have one core. If there were two, then it would be Prussia leading a group of small states to fight against Austria.

From the beginning, Franz decided that the rights of the states must be restrained.

After so many years of hard work, he had finally regained the diplomatic power, the coinage power, the command power of the army, and part of the financial power. How could he hand it over again?

Ron, the Minister of War and Navy, questioned, "This is just your wishful thinking. It doesn't represent the position of the Vienna government.

Moreover, Austria became the leader of the German Region by relying on strength, not the so-called public opinion. They first had strength and then gained the support of the people.

The influence of nationalism is great, but it is not enough to influence the decisions of the Government of Vienna. Exchanging the Rhineland for the unification of Germany is not a loss for the Austrians, right?

You have to know that Austria has always been afraid of us. Among the many states in the German Region, only we can threaten their strength. "

As the representative of the military, Ron was a supporter of the supremacy of strength. This was decided by the national conditions of the Kingdom of Prussia. Everyone was a supporter of the supremacy of strength.

Ron did not care much about Austria's influence. In his opinion, strength was the most important. Now that Austria had enough strength, other problems were not a problem.

As long as they could unify the German Region, losing the Rhineland was not a big deal. At most, they would be scolded by the people. As long as they could take it back in the future, these problems could be washed away.

It was not only his personal opinion. Many people had the same opinion. Some civil groups were still advocating the theory of unification with a price, which was to pay a certain price in exchange for the unification of the country.

This included: ceding the territory west of the Rhine River to the French, and ceding the Prussian Poland to the Russians.

Some people even carried out in-depth analysis and believed that this way, the Kingdom of Prussia would shrink by more than half, which would make the unified empire more stable.

This was what the Juncker nobles were most worried about. If Austria only annexed a smaller version of the Kingdom of Prussia, they would really suffer heavy losses.

The Kingdom of Prussia was larger than all the states except Austria combined. The existence of such a large state would obviously weaken the authority of the central government.

If Austria wanted to dominate the new Holy Roman Empire, they would have to suppress the Kingdom of Prussia and restrict them to a controllable range. The two sides were naturally on opposite sides, and there was no possibility of compromise.

This opinion did not include the shrewd politicians. Only they could see how bad the situation would be after Austria unified the German Region.

Politically, being isolated was inevitable. The Central European Empire would naturally be hostile to Europe. Militarily, it would also be the enemy of the world.

This enemy would come from both the continent and the sea. There was no need to say anything about the continent. Just looking at the map, they would have to fight against France and Russia at the same time.

The situation at sea was even worse. The Austrian navy would have to fight against England and France in the Mediterranean Sea, Russia in the Baltic Sea, and England and France in the Atlantic Ocean.

This was the result of ignoring the smaller countries. In fact, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, and the Nordic Federation would all be Austria's enemies. This was a geopolitical decision.

Other than Switzerland and Belgium, which were likely to be neutral, the European continent was filled with enemies. Even the unworthy Montenegro and Greece would not be an exception.

No, Greece and Montenegro were already on opposite sides of Austria. Their dream of becoming a great power was blocked by Austria.

If it wasn't for the fact that there were too many external enemies, why else would Franz suppress the Russians and release a big France? It was to reduce the pressure and distract everyone's attention.

If Russia declined, Austria would be able to get rid of the dilemma of fighting on two fronts. Even if there was a mistake in the operation and triggered a full-scale war in Europe, the eastern front could be resolved in the shortest time.

Provoking the ambitions of the French and deliberately allowing a big France to appear was not to mention.

They were also the public enemies of Europe. The appearance of the two giants at the same time would instantly confuse the European governments and it would be difficult to come up with a response plan in a short time.

When the two forces were in a stalemate, no matter which one fell, the other would become the overlord of Europe. Who would know what to do with such a multiple-choice question?

This hesitation would change the situation.

To put it bluntly, this was a gamble. Franz was betting that after the unification of the German Region, he could first complete the internal integration. Then he would rely on diplomatic means to provoke internal conflicts in France, and finally use the power of the country to overwhelm France.

The French were betting that the French army was better at fighting and could directly defeat Austria after the unification of the German Region after the establishment of a big France.

The existence of the Fao alliance, in addition to their own needs, also meant to work together to clear out the battlefield. The two sides would not be at ease in a decisive battle without first solving other competitors.

Although Europe did not have the story of "when the snipe and the clam fight, the fisherman benefits," everyone still understood this principle.

Obviously, this was not known by the Government of Berlin. If they knew that the Fao alliance was formed, they probably would not have the mood to play with the "Big Prussia" plan, but would quickly find people to help each other.

Foreign Minister Mckate said sarcastically, "According to what you mean, we should just hand over Silesia? Don't forget, the Austrians also offered to buy Prussian Saxony.

This kind of compromise will only make them want a yard after taking an inch. How can we compromise to them? If we really compromise, how will the government explain to the people? "

Chief of the General Staff Maoqi retorted, "Of course not for nothing. We can exchange interests with Austria. Now we need the support of Vienna, or at least acquiescence …"

…

Looking at the people arguing endlessly, the scene was very discordant. The military advocated compromise while the government advocated toughness. No matter how you looked at it, it seemed like the order was reversed.

It was indeed reversed. Initially, it was the government officials who advocated compromise, and the military advocated toughness. But as the situation changed, the situation was reversed.

In fact, this was just a continuation of the power struggle of the Government of Berlin. Now the civil officials faction was at an absolute disadvantage in the power struggle of the government. The decision-making power fell into the hands of the military. They were not willing to lose, so naturally, they wanted to stir things up.

In the face of power, many bottom lines did not exist. The civil officials faction had reached a critical moment of life and death. Once the London negotiations ended, the military, with the prestige of a great victory over Russia, would further increase the power of speech in the government.

The military, with victory in hand, naturally advocated stability. As for the sequelae of ceding land, in fact, it was not that serious.

Ceding land also depended on how it was ceded. As long as the operation was done well, the losses would be controlled. What the Kingdom of Prussia lacked now was not land, but population, especially the lack of Germans.

The East Prussia area was empty and urgently needed people to fill it. The newly occupied area also needed immigrants to stabilize the place. All they needed to do was pack up the people and property of the ceded land and throw a piece of land to Austria.

This was also fulfilling the agreement, and it also made the Government of Vienna speechless. The original agreement was only ceding Silesia, but it didn't include the people and property.

If they wanted to stir up trouble, they could leave a portion of the people behind and transfer all the local industries to these people. Then, they would not cooperate without violence.

In this society where private property was sacred and inviolable, if people did not cooperate through legal means, the Government of Vienna could do nothing about it.

Of course, this helplessness was only temporary. People always came up with a solution. Once they lost their integrity, there were many ways to solve the problem.

There was another unspoken reason for the change in the military's position, and that was that the Juncker nobles needed labor to farm the land. In this era, the degree of mechanization wasn't high, so the demand for labor in agriculture wasn't small.

The East Prussia area was the headquarters of the Juncker nobles. Now that the people were gone, they couldn't find enough labor to resume production.

Also, in the newly occupied areas, a lot of land would fall into the hands of the Juncker nobles after the war. These lands also needed labor to farm.

If there weren't any local people, they would have to rely on the locals to farm. Communication alone would be a big problem.

Moreover, the nobles also needed a foundation to rule over a place. If the locals rebelled, they would need to suppress them. How could they do it without their own people?

Silesia was taken from Austria. This place was mainly industrial, and the strength of the capitalists was much stronger. Even if they lost the Juncker nobles, they wouldn't lose anything.

Prussian Saxony was similar. Their economy was doing well, but it hadn't been long since they joined the Kingdom of Prussia, so they weren't the base of the Juncker nobles.

The civil officials were different. In order to compete with the military, they had no choice but to form an alliance with the capitalists. As the representative of the interests of the capitalists in the government, they naturally had to protect the interests of the capitalists.

In theory, by transferring the people and property, the Kingdom of Prussia's losses could be minimized. Ordinary people could also receive compensation from the government, which seemed pretty good.

However, the interests of the capitalists couldn't be guaranteed. Factories couldn't be built anywhere. Even if all the conditions were met, they would have to rebuild their connections and sales network after moving to another area.

This wasn't something that the government's compensation could make up for. In this process of change, there was a high chance that they would be replaced by others.