Chapter 718

Vienna International Hotel

Palmerston argued, "Mr. Metternich, your asking price is too high. This is beyond what the Kingdom of Sardinia can afford!"

Metternich said unhurriedly, "Mr. Palmerston, we can calculate a war. In this war, Austria spent 100 million guilders on war expenses and paid 12,000 casualties. Even if no one paid 1,000 guilders as compensation, that's still 12 million guilders.

The number of civilians killed was as high as 586,000, and the number of nobles was 26,000. The highest rank was marquis. Millions of people were homeless.

According to the compensation of 500 guilders for each civilian and 3,000 guilders for each noble, the total was 371 million guilders. Even if we calculate less for the homeless people, it should be at least 150 million guilders, right?

Nearly half of the cities in Lombardy and Venice were destroyed in the war, and the local economy was completely destroyed. The cost of reconstruction after the war would not be less than 300 million guilders.

Also, the Sardinian army acted recklessly and plundered a large amount of wealth from the people, at least 180 million guilders. These must be returned.

… "

According to the calculations of the Austrians, the Kingdom of Sardinia would probably not be able to pay it off in the next century. Without waiting for Metternich to finish, Palmerston said,

"Mr. Metternich, you can't calculate it like this. Most of the casualties and economic losses were caused by the revolutionaries. The losses caused by the Sardinian army were only a small part of it. "

That's right, these losses were caused by the rebels, the Austrian army, and the Sardinian army. However, the losses had to be borne by the Kingdom of Sardinia.

Metternich said without changing her expression, "Mr. Palmerston, we have enough evidence to show that the rebellion in Lombardy and Venice was planned by the Sardinian government.

The losses caused by the rebels naturally have to be borne by the Kingdom of Sardinia. We only ask for 1.66 billion guilders as compensation, which is actually very little. "

Palmerston naturally wouldn't buy it. He continued to grind down Metternich one by one.

For example, civilian casualties. The Sardinian army didn't carry out a massacre, so how could they kill so many civilians in such a short period of time?

Natural disasters, man-made disasters, and natural deaths could be blamed on the Sardinian government. At least they could be linked to it.

However, the war caused a population outflow. These people were still alive, so wasn't it too ridiculous to compensate them according to the number of deaths?

Why did the casualties of the rebels need to be compensated? Wasn't this nonsense? They were all criminals, and the Government of Austria needed to pay compensation to their families?

No, this had to be discounted.

Another example would be: The Sardinian army plundered the place, and they were all in the prisoner camp. All the goods were your spoils of war, okay? At most, they would give him some damage. How could they give him so much?

At most, there would be some losses.

After half a month of wrangling, Palmerston and Metternich finally came to an agreement. The Kingdom of Sardinia would pay Austria 338 million guilders as compensation and 62 million guilders as ransom for the captives. )

This was already the limit. The Kingdom of Sardinia had yet to undergo Gafur's reform, and their current financial revenue was only slightly more than ten million taels of silver.

Faced with such a huge amount of compensation, they definitely couldn't afford it. The existence of the Fao Secret Agreement cut off the possibility of them asking for help from the French financial sector. They had no choice but to borrow from the British.

With John's bullsh * t character, how could he not take advantage of the situation at this time?

It could be said that after this huge debt was borrowed, the politics and economy of Sardinia would have to rely on the British in the future.

As for the opinion of the Sardinian government-in-exile, it was no longer important. They had lost their right to speak and could only accept fate.

If they didn't listen, they could just change to another government. The British paid a huge price to protect them, hoping to support an obedient pawn in the Regions of Italy and strengthen their right to speak in the Regions of Italy.

Of course, another reason was that the British banking consortium was tied up by the loans. The Sardinian government still owed a huge debt to the British. If they didn't find a way to protect them, these loans would all go down the drain.

This huge amount of compensation was not so much the limit of the Sardinians as the limit of the British's willingness to continue investing.

…

On July 7, 1848, the Austrian ambassador in London and the Sardinian government in exile signed an armistice treaty. The content was a copy of the secret talks in Vienna between Austria and Britain, but in a different way.

The British banking consortium provided a loan to the Sardinian government and paid Austria 200 million guilders in a lump sum. The rest would be paid over 20 years with an annual interest of 5%.

…

The decision to take money over land was made by Franz. If there was no problem with the stupid teammate, France, then everyone would work together to divide up the Kingdom of Sardinia. Austria could get the rich Genoa and Turin regions. It was indeed worth it.

But now that the French could not take care of themselves, Austria could only do it alone. Unfortunately, Austria's appetite was not good and could not swallow the Kingdom of Sardinia.

If they could not destroy the Kingdom of Sardinia and only occupy a part of their territory, then they would have to face the threat of ethnic uprisings for a long time. It would be difficult to convert these areas into national power.

Moreover, there were enough Italians in Austria. Franz did not want to continue to increase, which was not conducive to his policy of ethnic integration.

Austria made concessions on the issue of the Kingdom of Sardinia, and naturally received compensation.

For example, the British would support Austria's expansion in the Balkans and acquiesce to Austria's participation in overseas colonial expansion.

Compared to the complicated situation in the Regions of Italy, after obtaining the support of the British, Austria only needed to communicate with the Russians to expand in the Balkans.

Overseas colonial expansion was even simpler. As long as the direction of Austria's expansion did not conflict with the core interests of Britain and France, the rest were small problems.

It had to be said that Palmerston's judgment was very accurate. Austria's strategic focus was no longer in the Regions of Italy.

Now, the dominant position was the German faction led by Prime Minister Felix, who advocated the expansion of power in the German Region.

Following closely behind was the Near East faction led by the Minister of War, Prince Wendisch Grätz, who advocated the expansion of power in the Balkans.

There was also the colonial faction led by Grand Duke Louis, who advocated the opening of overseas colonies.

The impact of the butterfly effect was huge. At this time in history, the Government of Austria was busy suppressing rebellions. There were definitely not so many people who wanted to expand abroad.

Behind these strategies, there was one or more interest groups driving them. On the surface, everyone's reasons seemed to be sufficient, but there were a series of problems when it came to actual operations.

Franz was not in a hurry to state his position. In politics, one could not only consider right and wrong, but also the interest groups involved and the changes that could be caused.

…

Palmerston's visit this time was not only for the Italian issue, but also for the mediation of the Prussian War. On this issue, Austria also had a lot of say.

"Mr. Metternich, I think that on the issue of the Prussian War, there is a need for our two countries to have a deeper communication.

The Kingdom of Prussia's unauthorized provocation of war should be condemned by the international community. As a peace-loving country, we need to take more active measures, "Palmerston said.

"Of course, Mr. Palmerston. The Government of Austria has already stated its position.

The duchies of Schleswig and Holstein are traditional German states, and Austria wants them to return to the Federation.

However, they must come back as independent states, and not as part of the Kingdom of Prussia, "Metternich replied.

Palmerston said seriously, "Mr. Metternich, the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein already belong to the Kingdom of Denmark. This is a matter of history.

The German Region is just a place, not a country. The German Confederation is just a union, and there is no so-called sovereignty! "

There was no doubt that the British were against the unification of the German Region. Once there was a unified empire in Central Europe, the hegemony of the British Empire would be affected.

Palmerston directly stated his position to cut off Austria's fantasy of unifying the German Region.

Metternich was against the establishment of Greater Germany, and he thought that unifying the German Region was impossible. After testing the British's attitude, there would naturally not be any extreme reactions.

"Mr. Palmerston, this problem is not about how we see it, but the public opinion led by the people of Prussia. Right now, the Government of Austria is being held hostage by public opinion.

We have just experienced a civil rebellion, and we have to consider the feelings of the people. In this war, we have to support the people of Prussia diplomatically. "

Metternich emphasized the word 'diplomacy', and Palmerston naturally understood what he was implying. Austria did not want Prussia to continue to grow stronger, and their support for them would be limited to diplomacy. They would not take any actual actions.

This answer did not satisfy him, but it was not unacceptable. It was nothing more than Austria preparing to be a bystander in this Prussia war.

Seeking the Government of Austria to participate in the joint pressure on Prussia failed, so Palmerston did not continue to stay in Vienna and went straight to Berlin.